Too much salt bad for you...duh!

Accroding to a recent CDC study, 7 out of 10 Americans should restrict their salt consumption, but very few of them do. About 145 million U.S. adults are thought to be more sensitive to salt — a group that includes anyone with high blood pressure, African-Americans and everyone older than 40.

That group should eat no more than about two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt each day. But only 1 in 10 people in that targeted group are meeting that guideline, according to estimates released Yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"I don't think 'alarming' is too strong" a term for describing the results, said Dr. Darwin Labarthe, director of the CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.
Sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure, which is major cause of heart disease and stroke.

Salt is the main source of sodium for most people.
Health officials estimate that about 80 percent of the average American's salt intake occurs without them salting their food.

It comes from the salt in many packaged and processed foods and meals served in restaurants.

Processed foods are completely loaded with it, as it is the main preservative!

Salt reduction has become a recent focus of public health campaigns. New York City's health department, the American Heart Association and nearly three dozen other organizations are trying to persuade food manufacturers and chain restaurants to reduce salt content by more than 50 percent over the next 10 years. The CDC and federal health agencies also having sodium-reduction talks with food companies.

If you are hypertensive like myself, and cannot limit your salt intake, the best way to reduce risk of high blood pressure is to drink TONS of water, and get plenty of exercise.

The debate over salt and high blood pressure has been debated for decades, but its hard to ignore that hypertension prevalence has tripled in 25 years, matching the increase in salt found in many processed foods