Salt and blood pressure

Salt and blood pressure (VitalBP) · evidence checked 2026-10-27

What the research shows

Grades are calculated from the studies listed, by fixed rules.

• Cutting salt lowers blood pressureEstablished

  In double-blind trials, people ate less salt and took either sodium tablets or dummy tablets, so nobody knew which month was low-salt; blood pressure fell when salt was cut. Pooled across 133 trials, a bigger cut gave a bigger fall, most in older people and those with high blood pressure. If you take blood-pressure medicine, ask your doctor before changing it.

  • Double-blind randomized trial, 47 people (1997) — primary outcome: improved. Funder not checked.
  • Double-blind randomized trial, size not stated (2005) — primary outcome: improved. Funder not checked.
  • Double-blind randomized trial, 169 people, 12 weeks (2009) — secondary outcome: improved. Funder not checked.
  • Pooled analysis of randomized trials (some against usual care, not a placebo), 3,230 people (2013) — primary outcome: improved. Funder not checked.
  • Pooled analysis of randomized trials (some against usual care, not a placebo), 12,197 people (2020) — primary outcome: improved. Funded by independent sources.
• VitalBP’s “nitric oxide-boosting formula” helps keep blood pressure normal, and cutting salt is a mistakeNo real evidence

  “Most folks with high blood pressure have never been told they’re making these 3 common mistakes — and it’s keeping their arteries clogged no matter what they do. / Cutting salt (actually makes…”

  VitalBP · Facebook ad, seen Oct 2026

  We found no study of VitalBP, and the ad we read does not list its ingredients. Its sentence about salt is cut off where we read it, so we grade the question rather than the wording: trials find cutting salt lowers blood pressure (above).