Key result
A high-potassium diet protects arteries from hypertensive injury, significantly reducing the incidence of stroke, cerebral infarcts, and arterial lesions even without lowering blood pressure.
Why the study?
Does a high-potassium diet and other lifestyle/medical interventions protect arteries in a hypertensive setting independent of blood pressure reduction?
Does a high-potassium diet and other lifestyle/medical interventions protect arteries in a hypertensive setting independent of blood pressure reduction?
High potassium intake and other targeted therapies may provide significant vascular protection in hypertension independent of their blood pressure-lowering effects.
For the first 98.5% of mankind's existence, prehistoric people all ate low-sodium, high-potassium, low-fat diets. With evolutionary forces working all this while, humans became very well adapted to the low-sodium, high-potassium, low-fat diet. In modern times, man has deserted his ancient cuisine and now favours a high-sodium, low-potassium, high-fat diet, which has produced several ‘diseases of civilization, ’ including hypertension. Many studies indicate that a high-potassium diet can prevent many of these arterial and renal lesions, even though the blood pressure may remain equally hypertensive. The high-potassium diet also tends to significantly retard the development of hypertension. The use of the high potassium diet is a prime example of protecting arteries in a hypertensive setting. This is the new dimension in hypertension therapy, protecting the arteries in addition to normalizing the blood pressure. (Hypertens Res 1993; 16: 85-90)
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Louis Tobian (1993) conducted a review in Hypertension. High-potassium diet vs. Normal or low potassium diet was evaluated. A high-potassium diet protects arteries from hypertensive injury, significantly reducing the incidence of stroke, cerebral infarcts, and arterial lesions even without lowering blood pressure.
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