I was working on a fire crew one year. A person in the household was on an anti-salt kick and got rid of everything that contained salt in the house.

Anyway, midway through a day of chopping a fire line I collapsed. A medic gave me a pack of salt to eat and I quickly recovered.

I suspect that the reason that the medical world is against salt is because changes in salt levels seem to affect blood pressure.

When people remove salt from their diet their blood pressure reduces. When people go from a low salt to higher salt diet their blood pressure increases.

This leads one to believe that high blood pressure must be a result of salt levels. However, it is likely that the body quickly compensates for the change. So, reducing salt does not lead to a permanent reduction in blood pressure.

BTW: manufacturers started adding iodine to salt in response to goiter outbreaks. It is one of the few times that additives improved health.