Gina Kolata, one of the top NY Times science writers, has an important article in the Wednesday, May 4th NY Times on "a new study [that] found that low-salt diets increase the risk of death from heart attacks and strokes and do not prevent high blood pressure, but the research’s limitations mean the debate over the effects of salt in the diet is far from over." See: Low-Salt Diet Ineffective, Study Finds.
It's not surprising that the dogma on salt is questioned. The perils of salt have been a tenet of cardiologists for over fifty years. That it may be false is troubling. That low salt diets may actually play a role in increased mortality for a subset of the population shows how dangerous medical orthodoxy can be to the health of the public.