What food for boost women's heart health

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.
Diets high in sodium increase a person’s risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
With the widespread consumption of processed foods, many people find it hard to limit their sodium intake.
Now, a study has found that, for women, a potassium-rich diet may combat the effects of a high sodium diet, and lower blood pressure.
In men, however, a potassium-rich diet had no significant effect.
According to the World Health Organization
Trusted Source (WHO), cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide, ending some 17.9 million lives each year.

In the United States, CVD causes 1 in 4 deathsTrusted Source in men, and 1 in 5 deathsTrusted Source in the entire population. A quarter of all deaths in the United Kingdom are due to CVD. Key risk factors are high blood pressure, high and smoking, but diet is also a contributing factor.

A diet high in sodium is widely believed to increase the riskTrusted Source of high blood pressure. Processed foods, particularly ultra-processed foods, often contain high levels of salt, so many people find it hard to control their sodium intake.

A study from the Netherlands, published in European Heart Journal, has found that women may be able to combat the effects of sodium by eating a potassium-rich diet, potentially decreasing their risk of CVD.
Greater effect in women

The large-scale study took almost 25,000 participants from the EPIC-Norfolk study in the U.K. Participants ranged in age from 40 to 79, with mean ages of 59 for men and 58 for women.

At the start of the study, all participants filled out a lifestyle questionnaire. Researchers then measured their blood pressure and collected a urine sample. They estimated dietary intake of sodium and potassium levels by measuring urinary levels of these two minerals.

Researchers analyzed the effect of potassium intake on blood pressure, after adjusting for age and sodium intake.

In women, they found a negative correlation between potassium intake and systolic blood pressure (SBP) — as intake increased, SBP decreased. The effect was greatest in those women who had the highest sodium intake.

In women with a high sodium intake, every 1 gram increase in daily potassium was associated with 2.4 millimeters of mercury (mm/Hg) lower SBP.

“Lowering the SBP by just over 1 mm/Hg is not clinically significant in practice. What it does indicate is that sodium intake alone is not the only factor we should be concentrating on when preventing CVD, and personalized nutrition approaches are key in achieving optimal health outcomes,” noted Prof. Spector.

The researchers found no association between potassium intake and blood pressure in men.
Potassium-rich foods

The WHO recommendsTrusted Source that adults should consume 3,510 miligrams (mg) of potassium and no more than 2,000 mg of sodium per day. Most adults currently have too much sodiumTrusted Source and too little potassium in their diet.

To increase potassium intake, a person should include foods that are high in potassium in their diet.

These include:
- bananas
- sweet potatoes
- dried fruits, such as raisins, apricots and prunes
- beans, peas and lentils
- seafood
- avocados.
Prof. Spector offered similar advice, saying: “I think the advice we should be giving is to increase whole plant foods, naturally high in potassium, such as avocados, legumes, artichokes, beets and apricots, and minimize ultra-processed foods which are often very high in sodium.”
Cardiovascular disease

The researchers followed up with participants after a median of 19.5 years, with the last recordings in March 2016. During this time, 55% were hospitalized or died due to CVD.

The researchers looked for any association between dietary potassium and cardiovascular events, having controlled for age, body mass index, sodium intake, use of lipid-lowering drugs, smoking, alcohol intake, diabetes and prior heart attack or stroke.