Study: Potassium-rich foods lower risk of stroke

NEW YORK, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Eat more bananas. That's the takeaway from a new study that suggests potassium-rich foods can help middle-aged and elderly women ward off stroke and death.

The study, undertaken by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, tracked the diet of 90,000 women ages 50 to 79, for an average of 11 years. When they compared potassium intake to incidents of stroke and death, they found more of the former (potassium) was correlated with less of the latter (stroke and death).

Women who ate the most potassium had a 16 percent smaller risk of stroke and a 10 percent smaller risk of death than those who ate the least amount of potassium-rich foods. Research showed the stroke-fighting benefits of potassium were most pronounced in women who did not already have issues with high blood pressure. The full results were published this week in the journal Stroke.

"Previous studies have shown that higher potassium consumption may lower blood pressure. But whether potassium intake could prevent stroke or death wasn't clear," said senior author Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller.

"Our findings give women another reason to eat their fruits and vegetables," Wassertheil-Smoller added. "They're good sources of potassium, and potassium not only lowers postmenopausal women's risk of stroke, but also of death."