PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Low levels of potassium may be as important as high levels of sodium as a risk factor for high blood pressure, U.S. researchers warn.
"There has been a lot of publicity about lowering salt or sodium in the diet in order to lower blood pressure, but not enough on increasing dietary potassium," lead author Dr. Susan Hedayati of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and the Dallas VA Medical Center said in a statement.
The study suggests low potassium may be a particularly important contributor to high blood pressure among African-Americans, and also identifies a gene that may influence potassium's effects on blood pressure.
The researchers analyzed data on about 3,300 subjects from the Dallas Heart-Study, about half African-American. The results revealed the amount of potassium in urine samples was strongly related to blood pressure.
"The lower the potassium in the urine, hence the lower the potassium in the diet, the higher the blood pressure," Hedayati said. "This effect was even stronger than the effect of sodium on blood pressure."
The finding are being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 41st annual meeting and scientific exposition in Philadelphia.
