[Salt, Hypertension, and Public Health]

A modest albeit significant relationship has been demonstrated in the past years among dietary sodium intake, individual as well as population blood pressure levels, and even possibly increase in blood pressure with ageing. Intervention data are still limited but globally suggest the validity of the concept i.e. that limiting sodium intake could reduce by several mm Hg the blood pressure levels in the population at large and significantly decrease the hypertension prevalence. Insofar the feasibility of such measures is uncertain and most of the data suggest that they are better driven by public health policies than individual efforts.