Low Potassium May Raise High BP Risk

A new study has recommended that low potassium may be a particularly vital provider to high blood pressure.
According to lead author Susan Hedayati, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and the Dallas VA Medical Center, “There has been a lot of exposure about lowering salt or sodium in the diet in order to lower blood pressure, but not enough on rising dietary potassium.”The new study also pointed out a gene that may influence potassium’’s effects on blood pressure.
The researchers examined data on approximately 3,300 subjects from the Dallas Heart Study, about half of whom were African American. The results revealed that the amount of potassium in urine samples was powerfully related to blood pressure.
According to Hedayati, “The lower the potassium in the urine, hence the lower the potassium in the diet and thus the blood pressure would also gets higher. This effect was even powerful than the effect of sodium on blood pressure.”
The bond between low potassium and high blood pressure remained significant even when age, race, and other cardiovascular risk factors comprising high cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking were taken into account.
The new results give crucial new data on the bond between potassium and blood pressure in a sample that was 50 percent African American.
Hedayati revealed that “Our study comprised a high percentage of African-Americans, who are known to consume the lowest amounts of potassium in the diet.”
The researchers also found facts that a specific gene, called WNK1, may be accountable for potassium’s effects on blood pressure.
“We are presently doing more research to test how low potassium in the diet affects blood pressure via activity of this gene,” Hedayati said.
The study is being accessible at the American Society of Nephrology’’s 41st Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.