The Yanomami Indians, a tribe of 35,000 in Brazil/Venezuela, eat a diet considered very low in sodium, less than 600mg/day. Their blood pressure is ~95/65. We're talking old folks too. So not only are the Yanomami Indians in the 1 percentile, at <600mg/day, they are probably in the 1% of the 1%.
There used to be a website called Megaheart.com. The guy who founded Megaheart was on the waiting list at Stanford for a heart transplant. He asked his physician if there was anything he could do while waiting for a heart, his doctor mentioned a very low salt diet. He pursued that and ended up not needing a transplant. Many others followed his experience with outstanding results.
Eating a low-salt diet, or at least one recommended by the RDA folks of 1500mg/day will be much better than what most Americans eat in a single day. But cutting back to levels like the Yanomami Indians can be a real game changer.
Walter Kempner (you've got to check out this dude on Google) saved the lives of many people by putting them on a low-salt diet. Back in the day, there were no drugs for hypertension and people died from it. Of course nowadays, one can pop a pill and merrily go on one's way. But in the long run, those who suffer from HBP and go on medication end up suffering from Alzheimer's in greater numbers than others.
Not only should we lower our sodium (Na), but our potassium (K) level should be raised. To meet just the minimum standard of 1500mg/day of sodium and the recommended level of potassium, you'd be in the 1 in 6000 people. Take your sodium intake to under 600mg/day and you're truly an oddball.
The best book I think ever written on hypertension is called The High Blood Pressure Solution, by Richard Moore. It's a fascinating book that takes a deep dive at how sodium works at the cellular level and sodium's interaction at the atomic level with potassium and calcium. Mr. Moore was on the cutting edge of discovering the importance of what he calls the K ratio, of potassium to sodium.
If one eliminates high-sodium foods, it can only be that one will gradually eat a predominantly plant-based diet. Fruits/vegetables while both have sodium and potassium, the K ratio is much higher of K to Na. Almost all of us have a K ratio of <1.
A problem with HBP is what's called the Windkessel Effect. Little known is that the aorta acts like a second heart which pumps blood during the diastolic stage. As we age, along with continued HBP, and a diet that promotes atherosclerosis, ends up stiffening the aortic fibers, hence lessening the Windkessel Effect.
Black people in US suffer an inordinate amount of HBP. Many on kidney dialysis. What is it with blacks ending up with this so-called idiopathic disease? How is it, not sure about the times of today, Kenyans virtually had no one with HBP?
To check out more about high salt related to HBP, check out Dr Peter Rogers and Nutrition Facts on YouTube.
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