Here's what salt does to your heart and body

The new guidelines would encourage (not require) restaurants and manufacturers to limit the salt they add to foods. This would hopefully get Americans down from eating 3,400 milligrams per day to 2,300, which is what the National Institutes of Health recommends. That's about half a teaspoon.

So what does salt do to your body?

It's not all bad. We need some sodium and chloride (the components of table salt) to keep our bodies functioning properly.

And while scientific research has linked high sodium diets to health issues like heart disease and high blood pressure, researchers can't agree whether lowering salt intake can actually help prevent these problems.

Here's how your body uses sodium to function - and what happens when it processes all that salt you're eating.