Mathematical model demonstrates ratio of potassium to sodium intake key to regulating blood pressure

New analysis from the College of Waterloo suggests rising the ratio of dietary potassium to sodium consumption could also be more practical for reducing blood stress than merely lowering sodium consumption.

The research, “Modulation of blood stress by dietary potassium and sodium: intercourse variations and modeling evaluation”, was printed within the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology.

Hypertension impacts over 30% of adults globally. It is the main explanation for coronary coronary heart illness and stroke and can also result in different afflictions like continual kidney illness, coronary heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and dementia.

“Often, when we’ve hypertension, we’re suggested to eat much less salt,” stated Anita Layton, professor of Utilized Arithmetic, Pc Science, Pharmacy and Biology on the College of Waterloo and the Canada 150 Analysis Chair in Mathematical Biology and Medication.

“Our analysis means that including extra potassium-rich meals to your eating regimen, resembling bananas or broccoli, might need a better constructive affect in your blood stress than simply chopping sodium.”

Potassium and sodium are each electrolytes—substances that assist the physique ship electrical alerts to contract muscle tissues, have an effect on the quantity of water in your physique and carry out different important capabilities.

“Early people ate plenty of vegatables and fruits, and because of this, our physique’s regulatory techniques might have developed to work finest with a high-potassium, low-sodium eating regimen,” stated Melissa Stadt, a Ph.D. candidate in Waterloo’s Division of Utilized Arithmetic and the lead writer of the research.

“At this time, western diets are usually a lot increased in sodium and decrease in potassium. That will clarify why hypertension is discovered primarily in industrialized societies, not in remoted societies.”

Whereas earlier analysis discovered that rising potassium consumption may also help management blood stress, the researchers developed a mathematical mannequin that efficiently identifies how the ratio of potassium to sodium impacts the physique.

The mannequin additionally identifies how intercourse variations have an effect on the connection between potassium and blood stress. The research discovered that males develop hypertension extra simply than premenopausal ladies, however males are additionally extra more likely to reply positively to an elevated ratio of potassium to sodium.

The researchers emphasize that mathematical fashions just like the one used on this research enable these sorts of experiments to establish how various factors affect the physique rapidly, cheaply, and ethically.