Current evidence does not support the view that the claimed association between salt intake and blood pressure is causal. In intercultural studies it is impossible to distinguish between a genuinely causal relationship and a relationship due to the role of salt intake as a marker for different life-styles. Physiological studies suggest that the Western intake of salt corresponds to a physiological set point selected when free choice is offered as the mid-point between harmful physiological extremes. When flawed intervention studies are excluded there is no evidence that a moderate reduction in salt intake would produce a significant blood pressure fall in healthy individuals although blood pressure falls can be produced in some hypertensive subjects.