Lower Blood Pressure

For many years we’ve been told by scientists and dieticians that too much salt is bad for us, and causes high blood pressure (hypertension), and damages the walls of our arteries (atherosclerosis), leading to coronary heart disease and stroke. However, new research from Loyola University in Chicago may have to cause us to rethink.

Apparently, salt on it’s own is not the only factor that determines whether we suffer harmful consequences from our sodium intake, and we may have to look at another essential compound in our diets – potassium. We’ve looked at the benefits of dietary potassium in a previous article which you can read here, but this new evidence is compelling and requires us to take notice and act accordingly.

The results of the Loyola study have shown that the quantity of salt consumed is less important than the ratio of salt to potassium intake. This is because salt is responsible for raising the blood pressure, whilst potassium has the ability to actually reduce blood pressure. If the balance between the two compounds is right, then larger quantities of salt are offset by larger quantities of potassium.

These conclusions seem to be supported by thorough evidence, conducted over 15 years and involving almost 3000 patient volunteers. The report was presented by Doctor Paul Whelton, president of the Loyola University Health Division.

How much daily potassium and how much sodium should I be consuming ?

Dr. Whelton’s report recommends an average adult daily intake of potassium equivalent to 4.7 grams or 4700 milligrams, and a salt intake of 6 grams or 6000 milligrams. However, most of us are not consuming enough potassium, and ARE consuming too much salt. Even the official United Kingdom recommended daily amount is only 3.7 grams.

How can I increase my daily potassium intake ?

Certain commonly available foods contain much greater quantities of potassium than others. If you are concerned about improving your artery health and lowering your blood pressure you should consider increasing your consumption of the following fruits, vegetables and nuts that have higher than average amounts of potassium :-

Fruits

• Avocado – 1204 milligrams per fruit
• Kiwi Fruit – 588 milligrams per kiwi
• Banana – 467 milligrams per banana
• Tomato – 396 milligrams per medium tomato

Vegetables

• Lima beans – 955 milligrams per cup
• Potato – 610 milligrams for a mediuim baked potato
• Broccoli – 456 milligrams per cup
• Peas – 433 milligrams per cup
• Artichoke – 425 milligrams per medium artichoke

Nuts

• Chestnuts – 497 milligrams per 10 nuts
• Sunflower seeds – 327 milligrams per ounce
• Pistachio nuts – 295 milligrams per ounce
• Pumpkin seeds 260 milligrams per ounce

Should I decrease my daily salt consumption ?

The recommended average adult daily salt intake, according to Dr. Whelton is 6 milligrams, and there is no clear medical evidence to suggest that reducing this daily amount is beneficial to heart health. On the contrary it may be counter-productive to heart health to consume less than this amount, according to a 2005 study by Albert Einstein college of medicine in New York. This 13 year research involving 7000 people concluded that consuming less than 6 grams of salt per day increases our risk of contracting heart disease.