[ClearCase_guy]

I've known people who sprinkled salt on their pizza. Some folks certainly eat more salt than they should.

But in America, land of processed food and McDonalds and similar establishments, I think everyone gets a "decent" amount of salt -- a salt "deficiency" seems unlikely.

The goal in this country is to keep it to some sort of reasonable level and follow a low-salt diet so that you just don't totally overdo the salt intake.

[Innovative]

Did you know there is a disease called “hyponatremia”, where people have too little salt in their blood, it can actually kill people.

[Boundless]

> But in America, land of processed food and McDonalds
> and similar establishments, I think everyone gets a
> “decent” amount of salt — a salt “deficiency” seems unlikely.

That’s true. The people actually at risk of too low sodium are those eschewing the sad SAD (Standard America Diet). This would include those doing low carb, ketogenic or vegetarian. Low carbers need to make sure they get enough. Ketogenics probably need to supplement, and vegetarians need to supplement a heck of a lot more than salt.

As with 99% of the official dietary advice, “avoid salt” is a mistake, although not quite as destructive as the advocacy for getting 60% of your calories from carbs (mostly wheat), the advocacy of low fat (huge mistake), and the endorsement of PUFA grain seed oils (so-called vegetable oils).

USDA MyPlate is MyPlateOfMetabolicSyndrome.