Salt Is Allowed

If you, like most home cooks, have spent years being mildly afraid of salt, we have good news: the case for blanket salt-restriction is much weaker than the public health messaging implies. Large meta-analyses suggest the sodium-cardiovascular relationship is a J-curve, not a straight line. People with hypertension benefit from reducing very high sodium intakes. People in the middle range — most adults — don't gain much from going lower, and may gain a little from staying near the curve's bottom. The far bigger driver of population sodium is not the home cook salting their pasta water. It's ultra-processed food, where sodium hides without flavour and arrives in volumes the eater can't see. The home cook who salts deliberately, on a plate of mostly whole foods, is doing something different than the consumer eating crisps and ready meals. So: season the broccoli. Salt the pasta water. Taste as you go.