muks,

Thanks for your question.  Doctors usually ask their cardiac patients to follow a low salt diet, even if their blood pressure is normalized.  Salt generally causes some degree of fluid retention which also represents a larger volume of circulating blood.  This is usually handled by most people without a problem, but in patients with heart disease, this could pose an added strain or workload on the heart.  We always try to reduce the workload. 

As to how much salt restriction, I would recommend about a two gram (2000 milligrams) sodium diet.  Sodium is one half of the salt molecule, with the other half being chloride.  Sodium is the actual culprit, and is a major factor in fluid management within our bodies.  One teaspoon of salt equals 2300 mg of sodium, so 2000 mg would be about three quarters of a teaspoon.  When purchasing packaged foods, check the nutritional information on the label which lists the salt content as sodium in milligrams. 

I hope this has been helpful.

Martin Cane, M.D.