Taylor tells the Health Blog that he doesn’t question the notion that salt consumption is linked to cardiovascular risk. But he says giving individuals dietary advice alone isn’t likely to cut it as a means of permanently lowering their salt intake, and therefore isn’t likely to have a long-term impact on health outcomes. “What’s not working is the advice,” he says.

On the other hand, many studies comparing how much salt people consume with their incidence of cardiovascular disease have come up with clearer links. A 2009 meta-analysis³ of 13 such studies, incorporating 177,000 patients, found that a high-salt diet increased the risk of stroke by 23%.