New York ? It’s good luck to throw salt over your shoulder. It’s bad for your health to eat it. And chances are you’re eating way too much.

Most Americans consume as much as 2 teaspoons of salt a day, far above the recommended half-teaspoon for healthy adults, according to the Institute of Medicine.

That’s a serious problem. Though the mechanism behind it isn’t fully understood, high-salt diets can cause high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart and kidney disease and stroke.

For good health, most people need less than a quarter-teaspoon a day of salt – a natural mineral known as sodium chloride. Of course, except for medically supervised diets, it’s almost impossible to consume that little. In fact, many foods exceed that amount per serving.

“This is the equivalent of a jumbo jet with 400 people on it crashing every day,” says Dr. Stephen Havas, vice president of public health for the American Medical Assn. He says if Americans cut their salt use in half, 150,000 lives a year could be saved.