Can eating more bananas and avocados keep heart disease away from women?

According to a study published in the European Heart Journal, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), eating more potassium-rich foods like bananas, avocados and salmon can reduce the negative effects of high dietary salt intake on women's bodies.

High salt intake is known to be associated with increased blood pressure and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke," said study author Professor Liffert Vogt of the University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Recommendations for a healthy diet focus on limiting salt intake, but this is difficult to achieve when our daily diet includes processed foods. Potassium helps the body excrete more sodium in the urine. In our study, potassium in the diet was linked to women's health."

The study included 24,963 participants (11,267 men and 13,696 women) in the EPIC-Norfolk study. the EPIC-Norfolk study recruited volunteers aged 40 to 79 years from general practices in Norfolk, England, between 1993 and 1997. The mean age of men was 59 years and 58 years for women. Participants completed a questionnaire about their lifestyle habits, and researchers measured their blood pressure and collected urine samples. The study used sodium and potassium in urine to estimate dietary intake, and participants were categorized as low, medium or high based on their sodium and potassium intake.

Researchers analyzed the relationship between potassium intake and blood pressure after adjusting for factors such as age, gender, and sodium intake. Potassium consumption (in grams per day) was associated with blood pressure in women, and a decrease in blood pressure occurred as potassium intake increased. When this relationship was analyzed according to the three categories of low, medium, and high sodium intake, an association between potassium intake and lower blood pressure was observed only in women with high sodium intake - a 2.4 mmHg decrease in systolic blood pressure for every 1 g increase in daily potassium intake. whereas in the men surveyed, there was no There was no association between potassium intake and blood pressure in the men surveyed.

During a median follow-up period of 19.5 years, 13,596 participants (55% of the total) were hospitalized or died from cardiovascular disease. Researchers analyzed the association between potassium intake and cardiovascular disease after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), sodium intake, use of lipid-lowering medications, smoking, alcohol intake, diabetes, and prior heart attack or stroke. Among all participants, the risk of cardiovascular disease was 13% lower in the highest 1/3 of the population with the highest potassium intake than in the lowest 1/3, with a 7% reduction in risk in men and 11% in women. Dietary salt content did not affect the relationship between potassium intake and cardiovascular disease in either sex.

The results show that potassium helps protect heart health and that women benefit more than men," said Professor Vogt. The relationship between potassium and cardiovascular disease was the same regardless of salt intake, suggesting that potassium has other ways of protecting the heart beyond increasing sodium excretion."

Studies show diets high in potassium are good for heart health

The World Health Organization recommends that adults consume at least 3.5 grams of potassium per day and less than 2 grams of sodium (5 grams of salt). Foods high in potassium include vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, dairy products and fish. For example, a 115 gram banana has 375 mg of potassium, 154 grams of cooked salmon has 780 mg, 136 grams of potatoes has 500 mg, and 1 cup of milk has 375 mg.

Professor Vogt concluded, "Our findings suggest that for a heart-healthy diet, it is important to not only limit salt intake, but also increase potassium intake. Food companies can help by swapping standard sodium salts in processed foods for potassium alternatives. Beyond that, we should prioritize fresh, unprocessed foods because they are both rich in potassium and low in salt."