In older adults in rural South Africa, the less salt they eat, the lower their blood pressure tends to be — every gram of salt saved drops blood pressure by a small but measurable amount.

After South Africa started limiting salt in processed foods, people in a rural area were found to be eating less salt — and that drop stayed steady for years.

Cutting back on salt for just one week lowers blood pressure by about 8 points in most people over 50, even if they’re already taking blood pressure medicine — and it works just as well whether they have high blood pressure or not.

Cutting back on salt in your diet lowers your blood pressure—on average, by about 4 points for the top number and 2 points for the bottom number.

For every 1/4 teaspoon of salt you cut out of your diet, your systolic blood pressure drops by about 1 point, and your diastolic by about 1/3 of a point.

After South Africa introduced rules to reduce salt in food, more older adults in rural areas started eating less salt — the number doubled from 7% to 17%.