Eating very little salt might raise levels of certain proteins in your blood that are linked to inflammation and blood pressure control, compared to eating a lot of salt—especially in people with normal blood pressure.

If healthy adults eat the typical high amount of salt found in processed foods, their body shows lower levels of important proteins that help control blood pressure and fight inflammation — compared to eating almost no salt at all.

Eating a lot of salt—like most people do today—might raise levels of certain proteins in your blood that are linked to heart and blood vessel damage, compared to eating very little salt like people did long ago.

Eating too little or too much salt might both be bad for your heart — people who eat way less than 3,000 mg or way more than 6,000 mg of salt a day seem to have a higher chance of heart problems or dying from them.

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 might seem healthy, but for some people who don’t have high blood pressure, it could accidentally raise or lower their blood pressure in ways that aren’t good.