>  There are also plenty of people whose
>hypertension is *not* resolved by reducing salt intake.
>
> think it is a mistake to identify salt as the "main
>cause" of hypertension.  In my view, it is far more likely that
>sodium *retention* is the main cause, and that is a result of
>hyperinsulinism.

As an addisonian ( not secreting cortisone and mineral corticoids) i have a
tendancy to waste sodium and as a consequence have low blood pressure. So it
is obvious there is a connection between sodium level and blood pressure and
level of mineral corticoids and blood pressure.
A high intake of salt might ( from my experience ) require less mineral
corticoids secreted so the excess is wasted in the urine. a low salt intake
might require more mineral corticoids secreted and the sodium is saved.
So i suppose that,  if,  for some reason there is hypersecretion from  the
adrenal cortex ( stress) of corticosteroids and a high salt intake it si
possible to retain too much sodium leading to hypertension.
Hyper secretion of  corticoids despite of low salt intake might lead to
sodium retention anyway explaining that a low salt intake by itself might
not allways enough to make the difference ( salt is far from being the only
source of sodium).
I am not all clear about all of this but i have a sens that my high salt
intake as a foetus and later in life is at the source of the collapse of my
adrenal cortex.
Now that i can't secrete corticosteroids, no matter how much salt i eat my
blood pressure is low because i am not capable of retaining  it .
If i take too much fludrocortisone ( replacement of mineral corticoids) i
will retain sodium and certainly my blood presure will rise.

I am curious to know more about the relationship between hyperinsulinemia,
sodium retention and corticoids levels.
do you have  material about that?

>If salt plays only a trivial role in natural human nutrition,
>then it is a mystery to me that part of the surface of our
>tongues is dedicated to salt sensors, making it possible for us
>to identify the salt-bearing foods

I have the sens that salt sensor are actually salts sensor , in other words
they evaluate mineral levels in the foods and not only sodium chloride.
I say that because in my experience of eating instinctively and because i am
craving salt due to my disease, showed me that when i have access to plenty
of wild greens or foods grown the most naturally possible ( with high
mineral contents) i don't look need salt but like in the middle of the
winter when i have to relye on bought vegetables and despite they are
organic ( so with higher mineral content than commercial produces) i just
need the salt to satisfy my taste buds.
I think the salt quest is very much a consequence of mineral depleted soils
.
the depletion of minerals is a natural process that start after each
glaciation  until the next glaciation  but got accelerated and agravated by
agricultural practices from the beginning of the neolithic  to more recently
, then agravated further by chemical agriculture and reduction of the total
biomass ( organic matter allowing the unlocking of minerals making them
available in an assimilated form to the plants thru microlife metabolism)
A theory say that plants contrary to what Liebig made us believe is not
feeding off minerals but off the protoplasm of microorganisms who feed on
minerals.
Wild animals on virgin lands are not salt starved like domestic animals on
overgrazed lands or wilds animals living on disturbed ecosystems.
jean-claude