QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Nowson, C. A. Articles by Gibbons, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Nowson, C. A. Articles by Gibbons, C.

---

Human Nutrition and Metabolism

Decreasing Dietary Sodium While Following a Self-Selected Potassium-Rich Diet Reduces Blood Pressure¹

Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, School of Health Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC 2125, Australia; ^* Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3152, Australia

²To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nowson{at}deakin.edu.au.

Reducing dietary sodium reduces blood pressure (BP), a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but few studies have specifically examined the effect on BP of altering dietary sodium in the context of a high potassium diet. This randomized, crossover study compared BP values in volunteer subjects self-selecting food intake and consuming low levels of sodium (Na⁺; 50 mmol/d) with those consuming high levels of sodium (120 mmol/d), in the context of a diet rich in potassium (K⁺). Sodium supplementation (NaSp) produced the difference in Na⁺ intake. Subjects (n = 108; 64 women, 44 men; 16 on antihypertensive therapy) had a mean age of 47.0 ± 10.1 y. Subjects were given dietary advice to achieve a low sodium (LS) diet with high potassium intake (50 mmol Na⁺/d, >80 mmol K⁺/d) and were allocated to NaSp (120 mmol Na⁺/d) or placebo treatment for 4 wk before crossover. The LS diet decreased urinary Na⁺ from baseline, 138.7 ± 5.3 mmol/d to 57.8 ± 3.8 mmol/d (P < 0.001). The NaSp treatment returned urinary Na⁺ to baseline levels 142.4 ± 3.7 mmol/d. Urinary K⁺ increased from baseline, 78.6 ± 2.3 to 86.6 ± 2.1 mmol/d with the LS diet and to 87.1 ± 2.1 mmol/d with NaSp treatment (P < 0.001). The LS diet reduced home systolic blood pressure (SBP) by 2.5 ± 0.8 mm Hg (P = 0.004), compared with the NaSp treatment. Hence, reducing Na⁺ intake from 140 to 60 mmol/d significantly decreased home SBP in subjects dwelling in a community setting who consumed a self-selected K⁺-rich diet, and this dietary modification could assist in lowering blood pressure in the general population.

KEY WORDS: • home blood pressure • sodium • potassium • diet • community

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. A. Nowson, A. Worsley, C. Margerison, M. K. Jorna, A. G. Frame, S. J. Torres, and S. J. Godfrey Blood Pressure Response to Dietary Modifications in Free-Living Individuals J. Nutr., September 1, 2004; 134(9): 2322 - 2329. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]