Potassium helps the heart stay healthy

Millions of people around the world face high blood pressure. This silent enemy causes heart attacks, strokes and kidney and heart malfunctions every year. Doctors have long advised reducing the amount of salt in the diet, but Canadian mathematicians and biologists have found an alternative path that may be even healthier.

It centers on the ratio of potassium to sodium in the diet. The authors of the new work from the University of Waterloo are confident: increased potassium intake can noticeably improve health, especially if you do not just limit salt, and change the balance between these two substances. Potassium and sodium are electrolytes on which many of the most important processes in the body depend, from muscle function to fluid regulation in tissues.

Interestingly, the diet of ancient man was dominated by fruits and vegetables – the main sources of potassium. Therefore, as one of the study’s authors, graduate student Melissa Stadt, explains, our bodies do better on a diet with more potassium than sodium. The modern Western diet, however, is arranged the other way around, and this, she says, may be one of the reasons why hypertension is prevalent in developed countries.

A special feature of the new approach is the use of a mathematical model. It helps to visualize how the ratio of potassium to sodium affects blood pressure. And not just on average, but taking into account the sex of the person. Thus, it turned out that men are more often faced with hypertension than pre-menopausal women, but at the same time in men and the response to the increase in potassium is more pronounced.

According to Professor Anita Leighton, one of the leaders of the project, the importance of these findings is that you can change the diet point by point – not only remove harmful, but also add useful. And such methods are far more affordable and safer than drug intervention.

Although the study itself was conducted on models, its meaning is quite practical. To keep blood pressure normal, it is important not only to avoid excess salt, but also to diversify the menu: include bananas, broccoli, potatoes, oranges, avocados and other foods rich in potassium.

A scientific paper detailing the model and its findings appeared in the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology. The researchers hope that their approach will help to revise the standards of nutritional recommendations and pay attention not only to prohibitions, but also to useful supplements.