Sodium and Potassium: Opposite Sides of the Heart Health Coin

Would you eat a banana to lower your blood pressure?

High blood pressure, once thought to be influenced only by body weight, physical activity, and sodium, now has to watch out for potassium. A new study published last month in The Archives of Internal Medicine showed that sodium and potassium influence blood pressure, and therefore heart health, in completely opposite ways.

The researchers analyzed the amount of sodium and potassium excreted in the urine from over 2,000 subjects (the amount of sodium or potassium in the urine is relative to the amount eaten). Measuring sodium and potassium in urine is much more accurate than the method most research studies use: asking the subjects about their diets.  The excretion of sodium or potassium themselves had little influence on cardiovascular disease risk. However, they found that the ratio of the two nutrient were extremely important.

Those that ate the highest amount of potassium and the lowest amount of sodium had a 50% reduced risk of developing a heart attack or stroke than the group that ate the most sodium and the least potassium. Although it had been shown in previous research that a high potassium intake is protective of cardiovascular disease, the fact that potassium may blunt the harmful effects of a high sodium intake is relatively groundbreaking. No one knows for sure how potassium helps reduce the risk of heart disease, although it is thought that potassium may impair your body’s ability to absorb sodium. Regardless of the mechanism, one of the study researchers, Dr. Eva Obarzanek frankly states: “The general population should eat foods low in sodium and high in potassium.”

This research has some important implications for the nearly 1 in 3 America’s with high blood pressure. Although limiting the amount of sodium you eat is still crucial to lower high blood pressure, for some, this is not enough.  The results from this study suggest that adding high potassium foods may be a practical and effective additional treatment.

Although never before this study had it been showed so clearly, the concept of adding potassium to diets to lower blood pressure is not new. The very famous DASH trials in the 1990s demonstrated that adding high potassium foods to the diets of patients with high blood pressure significantly reduced their blood pressure.

How can you put the results of this study into action? The primary, and still most important method to lower blood pressure is to reduce sodium intake. In our typical Western diets, this is a very difficult task. Sodium is everywhere in our food supply: in your salt shaker, your canned goods, and your take-out dinner.  Here are some simple ways to reduce sodium:

• Buy more reduced-sodium or no low-sodium foods
• Instead of salt, add flavor with herbs and spices
• Eat fresh and frozen veggies
• Cook fresh chicken and fish instead of canned or processed
• Try to limit “fast foods” both from the drive-through and the frozen dinners in your freezer

In general, American’s do not eat the recommended 4,700mg of potassium per day. The reason for this is fairly simple: potassium is found in fruits and vegetables and America’s don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. In fact, the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating twice as much potassium than sodium. The easiest way to get enough potassium is to eat 5-10 servings of colorful fruits and vegetables per day. In addition to potassium, colorful fruits and vegetables are also high in fiber and antioxidants: both important in reducing the heart disease risk.

Based on the research from this study, if you can’t resist that salty Kung Pao chicken from your local Chinese food restaurant, the best thing you can do is have a banana for dessert.

Link to article abstract

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