Does increased potassium intake reduce blood pressure and prevent stroke in adults?
Increased potassium intake is beneficial for lowering blood pressure in hypertensive patients and reducing the risk of stroke without adverse renal or metabolic effects.
High quality evidence shows that increased potassium intake reduces blood pressure in people with hypertension and has no adverse effect on blood lipid concentrations, catecholamine concentrations, or renal function in adults. Higher potassium intake was associated with a 24% lower risk of stroke (moderate quality evidence). These results suggest that increased potassium intake is potentially beneficial to most people without impaired renal handling of potassium for the prevention and control of elevated blood pressure and stroke.
Aburto et al. (Wed,) studied this question.