Hypertension risk should be based on ratio of sodium to potassium and not sodium intake alone

Studies have shown that individuals with high sodium and low potassium intake have a higher risk for hypertension, and hypertension is related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality.

An analysis of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III)looked at the effect of high sodium intake on the risks of cardiovascular disease mortality; including hypertension risk. Importantly the analysis also looked at the association of the ratio between sodium and potassium intake and the risks for cardiovascular disease mortality.

Functionally trained practitioners have been talking about this with their patients for some time. We know there is a correlation between eating a diet high in vegetables, fruits and legumes and having a lower incidence of hypertension vs. eating a diet of mostly processed foods which increases risk for hypertension. The 15-year follow-up study, done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA and published in the July 1011 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine confirmed that people with the highest ratio of sodium to potassium in their diet had a significantly increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared with those who had the lowest ratio of sodium to potassium intake.

"This is the first large, nationwide study where we followed a pretty big cohort of people and looked at sodium and potassium at the same time," coauthor Dr Elena V Kuklina (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) told heartwire .

"The major implications of our findings are that a diet balanced in both micronutrients is important. People should try to reduce sodium in particular by consuming less processed food, but also they should increase potassium intake, and this is easily done by eating more fruit and vegetables and dairy products, which are a good source of potassium and low in sodium. This is nothing new; a healthy diet is good for your health." (I say AMEN!)

Kuklina stresses that people must understand the massive impact that processing has on foods: for example, 100 g of unprocessed pork contains 61 mg of sodium and 340 mg of potassium, she notes, but turning this into ham alters that ratio significantly, to yield a whopping 921 mg of sodium and, to boot, reduces the potassium content to 240 mg. (Well duh!)

In an accompanying editorial [2], Drs Lynn D Silver and Thomas A Farley (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NY) agree: "It is crucial that we understand the interplay of sodium and potassium in the diet and how to optimize intake in an increasingly processed food supply without generating harm."

Sodium/Potassium Ratio of <1 Is Protective


Some of the findings "are not new," says Kuklina. "We know for sure the relationship between sodium and hypertension, although there is a little bit more inconsistency when it comes to sodium and CVD mortality. And we know that higher potassium is protective against hypertension, but much less is known about potassium intake and cardiovascular disease and mortality."

We found that potassium does matter.

The results show that sodium/potassium ratio of <1 is protective, she says: "We found that potassium does matter."

Here is just one more reason to eat your veggies!
You can read the full research here:
http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/746360?src=cmemp