If people at high risk for high blood pressure — like Black adults or those who already have it — get help using more spices and herbs instead of salt, they might cut down on sodium by nearly 1,000 mg a day over 20 weeks, more than if they try to do it on their own.

If you're an urban adult at high risk for heart problems, using spices and herbs in a guided program might help you cut way back on salt—almost 1,000 mg less per day—compared to trying to do it on your own.

People who learned to use more spices and herbs instead of salt kept eating less sodium for 20 weeks after a short low-salt diet, and their bodies showed much less salt in their urine compared to people who didn’t get the training.

If you have high blood pressure and eat less salt—cutting from about 4.6 grams down to 1.5–2.4 grams a day—your blood pressure will likely go down a bit, especially if you're older, Black, or have kidney disease or metabolic syndrome.

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.

Eating less than 1500 mg of salt a day might help keep your heart healthy and lower your chances of getting high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association.