Women who consume bananas, avocados and salmon could reduce the negative effects of salt in the diet, according to a study published in the “European Heart Journal”.
“High salt intake is known to be associated with high blood pressure and increased risk of heart attacks and strokes,” says study author Liffert Vogt, of University Medical Centers Amsterdam, the Netherlands. . “Health advice has focused on limiting salt intake, but this is difficult to achieve when our diet includes processed foods. Potassium helps the body excrete more sodium in the urine. In our study, dietary potassium was associated with the greatest health benefits for women.”
The World Health Organization recommends that adults consume at least 3.5 grams of potassium and less than 2 grams of sodium (5 grams of salt)
The study included 24,963 participants (11,267 men and 13,696 women) from the EPIC-Norfolk study, which recruited people aged 40 to 79 years between 1993 and 1997. The median age was 59 years for men and 58 years for men. for the women. Participants completed a lifestyle questionnaire, had their blood pressure measured, and a urine sample was collected. Urinary sodium and potassium were used to estimate dietary intake.. Participants were divided into tertiles based on sodium (low/medium/high) and potassium (low/medium/high) intake.
The researchers examined the association between potassium intake and blood pressure after adjusting for age, gender, and sodium intake. Potassium intake (in grams per day) was associated with blood pressure in women: as intake increased, blood pressure decreased.
When the association was analyzed based on sodium intake (low/medium/high), the relationship between potassium and blood pressure was only seen in women with high sodium intake, where each 1-gram increase of daily potassium was associated with a 2.4 mmHg decrease in systolic blood pressure. In men, no association between potassium and blood pressure was observed.
During a median follow-up of 19.5 years, 13,596 (55%) participants were hospitalized or died from cardiovascular disease. The researchers analyzed the relationship between potassium intake and cardiovascular events after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, sodium intake, use of lipid-lowering drugs, smoking, alcohol intake, diabetes and previous heart attacks or strokes.
Results suggest potassium helps maintain heart health, but women benefit more than men
In the entire cohort, people in the highest tertile for potassium intake had a 13% lower risk of cardiovascular events compared to those in the lowest tertile. When men and women were analyzed separately, the corresponding risk reductions were 7% and 11%, respectively. The amount of salt in the diet did not influence the relationship between potassium and cardiovascular events in men or women.
“The results suggest that potassium helps maintain heart health, but that women benefit more than men. The relationship between potassium and cardiovascular events was the same regardless of salt intake, suggesting that potassium has other ways of protecting the heart besides increasing sodium excretion,” says Vogt.
Foods rich in potassium are vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, dairy products and fish. For example, a 115-gram banana has 375 mg of potassium, 154 grams of cooked salmon has 780 mg, a 136-gram potato has 500 mg, and a cup of milk has 375 mg.
“Our results indicate that a heart-healthy diet goes beyond limiting salt and increasing potassium content. Food companies can help by switching from standard sodium-based salt to a potassium salt alternative in processed foods. In addition, we should all prioritize fresh and unprocessed foods, as they are rich in potassium and low in salt,” Vogt concludes.