Scientists say that salt is the number one killer in the world.

High blood pressure is the culprit in most deaths worldwide and salt only exacerbates hypertension which causes heart attack and stroke.

It is not simply table salt, however, which contributes to alarmingly high sodium intake.

Fast food, packaged foods even breads and cereals contain a high amount of sodium to preserve shelf life and enhance the taste of otherwise low quality food products.

Reducing daily sodium intake by 2,000 milligrams at the population level could prevent 1.25 million deaths from stroke and almost 3 million deaths from cardiovascular disease each year, according to an analysis published in the British Medical Journal in 2009. A 1,200-milligram reduction could save up to $24 billion annually in U.S. health costs, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2010.