People with slightly high blood pressure who were randomly assigned to eat less salt were 15% less likely to die over 20 years, but the result wasn’t strong enough to say for sure it was because of the salt reduction — it might just be chance.

For people with slightly high blood pressure, eating more or less salt doesn’t seem to change their chance of dying, no matter how old they are, their gender, race, or whether they tried to lose weight — this pattern held true for over 20 years.

People who are older, Black or Asian, or already have high blood pressure see a bigger drop in their blood pressure when they cut salt than younger, white, or healthy people do.

For people with slightly high blood pressure, eating more salt seems to raise the risk of dying earlier—even at very low salt levels below what’s usually considered healthy. There’s no sign that eating very little salt is safe or helpful.

People aged 30 to 54 who eat more salt over several years are 12% more likely to die from any cause for every extra 1,000 mg of salt per day—and eating very little salt doesn’t seem to help them live longer.

Even if your blood pressure is normal, cutting back on salt still helps lower it a little—which could help prevent high blood pressure as you get older.