Research
Hormonal
High sodium intake increases blood pressure and arterial stiffness through volume expansion, endothelial dysfunction, and sympathetic activation, whereas modest sodium reduction lowers BP and improves vascular health in hypertensive and salt-sensitive individuals.
If you have high blood pressure, reducing your sodium intake is one of the most effective steps you can take to lower it and protect your heart. However, if you have normal blood pressure, you don't need to obsessively restrict salt to near-zero levels, as extremely low intake may carry its own risks. Focus on reducing excess intake rather than eliminating it entirely.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
A reduction in dietary sodium not only decreases the blood pressure and the incidence of hypertension, but is also associated with a reduction in morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. Prolonged modest reduction in salt intake induces a relevant fall in blood pressure in both hypertensive and normotensive individuals, irrespective of sex and ethnic group, with larger falls in systolic blood pressure for larger reductions in dietary salt.
Why this rating
Based on a comprehensive review of multiple meta-analyses, cohort studies, and clinical trials cited in the paper.
Source
Sodium Intake and Hypertension
Andrea Grillo et al. · Nutrients · 2019
DOI 10.3390/nu11091970
narrative_reviewCited 688×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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