Excessive dietary sodium increases blood pressure, while a high potassium diet has the opposite effect. The underlying mechanism is alleviated by sex and includes multiple organs and tissues. How do high potassium-induced alternatives in renal function differ between men and women with lower blood pressure? To answer these questions, a duo of researchers at the University of Waterloo conducted computer simulations to simulate the homeostasis of whole body fluids and electrolytes, simulating the effects of sodium and potassium intake on blood pressure.
Melissa Stadt & Anita Layton suggests that increasing the ratio of dietary potassium to sodium intake may be more effective in lowering blood pressure than simply reducing sodium intake. Image credit: Melissa Stadt & Anita Layton, doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00222.2024.
Hypertension affects more than 30% of adults around the world. It is the main cause of coronary heart disease and stroke, and can lead to other distress such as chronic kidney disease, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, and dementia.
“We usually recommend eating less salt when we have high blood pressure,” said Professor Anita Leighton, author of the study.
“Our research suggests that adding potassium-rich foods to a diet such as bananas and broccoli can have a greater impact on blood pressure than cutting off sodium.”
Potassium and sodium are both electrolytes, which help the body send electrical signals to contract muscles, affect the amount of water in the body, and perform other essential functions.
“Early humans ate a lot of fruits and vegetables. As a result, our body’s regulatory system may have evolved to work best on a high potassium, low sodium diet.”
“Today, Western diets tend to be much higher in sodium and lower in potassium.”
“It may explain why hypertension is seen primarily in industrialized societies, not isolated societies.”
Previous studies found that increased potassium intake helps control blood pressure, but researchers have developed a mathematical model that successfully identifies how potassium-sodium ratios affect the body.
The model also identifies how sex differences affect the relationship between potassium and blood pressure.
Scientists have found that men develop hypertension more easily than premenopausal women, but men are more likely to respond positively to an increased potassium-to-sodium ratio.
“Mathematical models like those used in this study allow these types of experiments to identify how different factors affect the body quickly, cheaply, and ethically,” they said.
Team’s paper Released in March 2025 American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology.
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Melissa Statt and Anita T. Leighton. Regulation of blood pressure by dietary potassium and sodium: Gender differences and modeling analysis. American Journal of Physiology-Renal PhysiologyPublished online on March 3, 2025. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00222.2024
Source: www.sci.news
