People with high blood pressure are often advised to reduce their salt intake and ensure it remains below the recommended 6g per day. Now, research suggests that patient should go one step further and increase their intake of potassium — found in foods such as bananas and broccoli.
Experts at the University of Waterloo in Canada developed a mathematical model which found that increasing the ratio of dietary potassium to sodium intake may be more effective for lowering blood pressure than just reducing sodium intake. Dr Anita Layton, a professor of applied mathematics, computer science, pharmacy and biology, said: “Usually, when we have high blood pressure, we are advised to eat less salt.
“Our research suggests that adding more potassium-rich foods to your diet, such as bananas or broccoli, might have a greater positive impact on your blood pressure than just cutting sodium.”
Eating too much salt can make your body hold onto water, which puts extra pressure on the blood vessel walls. It can also damage blood vessels in the kidneys.
Potassium and sodium are both electrolytes — substances that help the body send electrical signals to contract muscles, affect the amount of water in your body and perform other essential functions.
Study leader Melissa Stadt, a PhD candidate in Waterloo’s Department of Applied Mathematics, said: “Early humans ate lots of fruits and vegetables, and as a result, our body’s regulatory systems may have evolved to work best with a high potassium, low sodium diet.
“Today, western diets tend to be much higher in sodium and lower in potassium. That may explain why high blood pressure is found mainly in industrialised societies, not in isolated societies.”
Around a third of UK adults are thought to have high blood pressure, equivalent to 16 million people. More than five million are thought to be living with the condition undiagnosed.
Untreated high blood pressure can increase risk of serious health problems including heart disease, stroke, kidney damage.
Other factors that increase your chances of having high blood pressure include being overweight, smoking and lack of exercise.
The findings were published in the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology.
