"It's Time to End the War on Salt"

Scientific American: "The zealous drive by politicians to limit our salt intake has little basis in science."

"This week a meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in the American Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure. In May European researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the less sodium that study subjects excreted in their urine—an excellent measure of prior consumption—the greater their risk was of dying from heart disease. These findings call into question the common wisdom that excess salt is bad for you, but the evidence linking salt to heart disease has always been tenuous."

Duh.  Gary Taubes wrote about this in 1998 (PDF). 

This is not about health, it's about control over you and me.

P.S. More info here, in an interview with "anti-salt" advocate Marion Nestle.  Thanks to Melissa.  If this is the best argument for lowering salt intake, there's no argument.