People with heart failure who say they eat very little salt actually have a higher chance of dying sooner — even after accounting for how sick they are or their age and income — which makes scientists wonder if people are just bad at remembering or reporting what they eat.

Eating less salt may help people live longer and avoid heart-related deaths, according to studies that combined results from many other studies.

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.

People who eat about 3 to 6 grams of salt per day seem to have fewer heart problems and live longer than those who eat much less or much more salt — it’s like there’s a sweet spot for salt intake.

In older people in the Netherlands, how much salt they say they eat doesn’t seem to link to more heart problems or early death — maybe they’re not reporting it right, or salt just doesn’t affect them much at the levels they’re eating.

If you eat less salt, your blood pressure tends to go down, and you’re less likely to have a stroke, heart problems, or die early.