Eating almost no salt—less than a pinch a day—while following the Rice Diet didn’t seem to make people with high or normal blood pressure die any sooner, and most of them lived at least five years. So maybe cutting salt this much is okay even for healthy people.

People with very high blood pressure who ate the Rice Diet were about 72% likely to live at least 5 years, while those with lower blood pressure were over 93% likely to live that long — suggesting that how high your blood pressure was at the start might affect how long you live, even if you eat this special diet.

Eating too much salt might raise your blood pressure, but we’re not sure if cutting back on salt actually helps prevent heart problems because no big, fair studies have proven it yet.

If someone with very high blood pressure eats almost no salt, lots of carbs, and very little fat or protein for about three months, their blood pressure might drop by nearly 45 points — this diet could really help people with dangerously high blood pressure.

Eating a lot of salt—more than 7 grams a day—might make people with high blood pressure more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or even die sooner.

If someone with very high blood pressure eats almost no salt—less than a pinch a day—their blood pressure drops, and their heart and kidneys might even start healing.