Salt and blood pressure: population and individual perspectives.

The need to reduce the amount of salt in the diet has remained a very controversial issue in spite of strong evidence from animal experimental and human studies that increased salt intake is associated with increased blood pressure levels. The fundamental problem is the confusion between clinical, preventive medicine, and public health approaches. Reducing salt intake is not as effective as drug therapy to treat hypertension (clinical model). Individual preventive medicine approaches aimed at high risk populations are effective, but the efficacy is limited by the size of the population at risk and the intensity of the intervention. The public health approach to gradual reduction of available salt in the diet is likely to result in decreased morbidity and mortality with little inconvenience to the public.