Salt: good? Bad? Both! It will kill you no matter what you do.

For decades now, the "accepted" medical advice on recommended salt intake has fluctuated like a bobblehead doll, and the media's alarmist coverage has fluctuated right along in lockstep. (Christ, a scroll through the Gawker.com/salt page will show you enough contradictory advice to condone and/ or forbid putting anything at all into your mouth, and swallowing it.) Fortunately for all of us—especially "we the media," who hit a real slow patch this time of year—there is a huge new study out about salt consumption. What do you need to know? From the Wall Street Journal:

The new study, which tracked more than 100,000 people from 17 countries over an average of more than three years, found that those who consumed fewer than 3,000 milligrams of sodium a day had a 27% higher risk of death or a serious event such as a heart attack or stroke in that period than those whose intake was estimated at 3,000 to 6,000 milligrams.

The findings are clear: eating too little salt could kill you. Also, here is another perspective, from Science Daily, about the very same study:

More than 1.6 million cardiovascular-related deaths per year can be attributed to sodium consumption above the World Health Organization's recommendation of 2.0g (2,000mg) per day, researchers have found...

These new findings inform the need for strong policies to reduce dietary sodium in the United States and across the world."

The findings are clear: eating too much salt could kill you.

Immediately increase and decrease your salt intake, or prepare to die.

[Photo: Flickr]