Potassium is an essential trace mineral required for maintaining nerve and muscle function. It also functions to regulate water balance and, consequently, blood pressure. An adequate intake level for potassium for adult men and women is 4,700 mg per day. The third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey involving more than 17,000 participants reported that high dietary potassium intake is linked to significantly lower blood pressures.
Antihypertensive
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension trial, or DASH, reports that men and women who consumed 8.5 servings per day of fruits and vegetables with an intake of 4,100 mg per day of potassium had lower blood pressures than a control group that consumed only 3.5 servings per day of fruits and vegetables with a potassium intake less than 1,700 mg per day. A review of several studies in "The Journal of the American Medical Association" reports that oral potassium supplements significantly lower blood pressure.
Salt-Induced Hypertension
Potassium and sodium play a role in regulating water balance and blood pressure. In the DASH trial, the decrease in blood pressure was highest in those people who had high salt intakes. A review in the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition" reports that oral supplementation of potassium is most effective in people with high sodium intakes.
Cardioprotective Effects
A study in the journal "Hypertension" reports that dietary potassium supplementation prevented vascular injury caused by high salt intake in rats. Human studies have not evaluated the cardioprotective effects of potassium; however, a clinical trial was initiated in 2005 to determine if potassium supplements prevent cardiovascular injury. As of October 2010, results from this trial have not been published. Additionally, it is a common practice to treat people having a heart attack with a solution containing glucose, insulin and potassium. A study in the "European Journal of Clinical Investigation" reports that infusion of this cocktail in people treated during a heart attack reduces heart damage.
References
- Linus Pauling Institute: Potassium
- "The Journal of the American Medical Association"; Effects of Oral Potassium on Blood Pressure. Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials; P.K. Whelton et al.; May 1997
- "Journal of the American College of Nutrition"; Relationship and Interaction between Sodium and Potassium; R. Curtis Morris et al.; 2006
- "Hypertension"; Protective Effect of Dietary Potassium Against Vascular Injury in Salt-Sensitive Hypertension; Makiko Kido et al.; 2008
- Clinical Trials: Effects of Potassium Salts on Blood Pressure and Target Organ Damage
