Proper blood circulation through your heart and blood vessels is essential to prevent conditions such as hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure and peripheral vascular disease. Maintaining a diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables can help promote good blood flow. The mineral potassium is one reason for this dietary benefit, important because it's needed for proper functioning of all the cells, tissues and organs in your body.
Potassium Benefits
Sodium and potassium work together in a delicate balance to maintain healthy circulation and prevent heart disease. Too much salt draws more water into your blood, increasing blood volume and raising blood pressure. Potassium has the opposite effect and is considered vasoactive, meaning it increases blood flow. Potassium stimulates the thin layer of endothelial cells lining the surface of blood vessels that reduce any instability in blood flow so blood can be pumped easier.
Disease and Blood Flow
Your kidneys play an important role in promoting a healthy circulatory system by filtering a large volume of blood, but kidneys can also be damaged by cardiovascular disease. A study in the journal "Kidney International" in 1982 showed that renal blood flow was significantly reduced in potassium-depleted rats. Potassium was also found to improve the flow of blood in muscles in patients with heart failure, in a Vanderbilt University study presented at the 2002 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association.
Blood Pressure
Individuals with higher dietary potassium consumption tend to have lower blood pressure, a finding reported in the "Archives of Internal Medicine" in 2001. The study was part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with more than 17,000 adult participants, which found potassium intake was associated with lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings.However, a 2010 study in the "British Journal of Nutrition" found that 50 patients with early high blood pressure showed no improvements after following a potassium-rich diet.
Dosing and Considerations
The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine established the adequate intake level for potassium to lower blood pressure as 4,700 milligrams per day. Higher potassium intake can cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort and diarrhea. Very high potassium intake of 18 grams or above, usually from supplements, can lead to hyperkalemia, with tingling of the hands and feet, muscular weakness, temporary paralysis and an abnormal heart rhythm. It's difficult to get too much potassium from food alone, but avoid using potassium supplements without consulting your doctor.
References
- Linus Pauling Institute; Potassium; Jane Higdon and Victoria J. Drake; 2004 and 2010
- "American Journal Of Physiology, Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology"; Role of Potassium in Regulating Blood Flow and Blood Pressure; F.J. Haddy; March 2006
- "Kidney International"; Mechanism of the Decreased Renal Blood Flow in the Potassium-Depleted Conscious Rat; S.L. Linas and D. Dickmann D; May 1982
- DG Dispatch: Potassium Administration Helps Leg Blood Flow in Heart Failure Patients, Presented at AHA
- "Archives of Internal Medicine"; Impact of Diet on Blood Pressure and Age-Related Changes in Blood Pressure in the U.S. Population: Analysis of NHANES III; I.M. Haijar, et al.; February 2001
- "British Journal of Nutrition"; Increased Potassium Intake from Fruit and Vegetables or Supplements Does Not Lower Blood Pressure or Improve Vascular Function in UK Men and Women With Early Hypertension; S.E. Berry, et al.; December 2010
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