With all the contradictory advice we get when it comes to salt intake, it’s no wonder people are confused about what’s healthy and what’s not.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that Americans eat way too much salt and people need to cut down on their intake big time, but a recent study came out suggesting that while heavy salt intake is bad, the average American’s intake didn’t seem to have much effect on their mortality.

In fact, a study earlier this year by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health found that the science on salt is heavily polarized. An analysis of scientific reports and comments on a salty diet finds that scientists don’t agree that an overall reduction in salt intake across the population will necessarily result in better health.

A total of 54 percent of scientists supported the notion of cutting down overall salt intake, while 33 percent were not supportive and 13 percent weren’t sure.

The study was based on 269 academic reports that were published between 1979 and 2014.

“There are two almost distinct bodies of scholarship–one supporting and one opposing the claim that salt reduction in populations will improve clinical outcomes,” David Johns, a doctoral student at the university, said in the statement. “Each is driven by a few prolific authors who tend to cite other researchers who share their point of view, with little apparent collaboration between the two ‘sides.'”