When sodium combines with chloride, the result is the table salt we shake into our cooking pots and onto the meals at our table.

In our country, as in much of the world, apparently too much shaking is going on—in our homes, in restaurants, and in processed foods (the latter of which provide approximately 75 percent of the salt we consume).

The Data:
* A new study shows that limiting salt intake to six grams per day may help people live longer by reducing blood pressure and lessening the need for antihypertensive medication. This becomes even more important as our population ages, when the problem of resistant hypertension—failure to achieve goal blood pressure with appropriate antihypertensive medications—is expected to rise. Additionally, people with Type 1 and 2 diabetes are at higher risk of the cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and renal effects of hypertension, so reduced salt intake is especially critical for this population.

* In children, salt has been found to be a key component in soft-drink consumption: Children eating a lower-salt diet drank fewer sugar-sweetened beverages. Since sugar-sweetened soft drinks are a significant source of calories in children’s diets, reducing salt intake may help reduce childhood obesity.

* New research indicates that high salt intake may increase cardiovascular sensitivity to mental stress.

* Low birth weight, prematurity, and elevated uric acid levels are associated with hypertension early in childhood. A recent review of blood pressure in children showed that reducing dietary salt intake leads to significant reductions in hypertension in infants and young children.

* Salt sensitivity is acquired or genetically induced in about 50 percent of patients with hypertension, which is associated with high cardiovascular risk. A restricted salt diet is highly beneficial in reducing this risk.

What you can do:
* Let manufacturers and restaurants know how you feel about salt content by purchasing foods low in sodium and choosing heart-healthy offerings.

* Try substitutions. Use an herb and spice blend instead of salt. If you buy a blend, check the label to make sure sodium is not on the list. Or make your own blend using dried parsley, rosemary, thyme, and celery seed, or any variety of herbs and spices that you especially enjoy.

* Eat more whole foods to maintain a good balance of sodium and potassium–insufficient levels of potassium can exaggerate the effects of sodium. Apricots, avocados, bananas, beans, blackstrap molasses, brewer’s yeast, brown rice, dates, figs, dried fruit, garlic, nuts, potatoes, spinach, winter squash, yams, and yogurt are good sources of potassium.

* Use unrefined sea salt. According to nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, commercially refined salt is stripped of minerals other than sodium and chloride and is also heated at such high temperatures that its chemical structure changes. It is also chemically cleaned, bleached, and treated with anticaking agents that may cause health problems in the body. She recommends using unrefined sea salt at the table and seasoning foods with herbs, spices, and lemon juice in cooking.

* Watch for sodium on the ingredient labels of processed foods. Even if your blood pressure is normal, you’ll find that reducing salt decreases water retention, a factor in upper body weight.