Key TakeawaysCardiovascular disease is theleading cause of death among womenin the United States.A new study found that women who ate a high-sodium diet got heart health benefits from upping their intake of potassium-rich foods, especially when it came to blood pressure.Even if you’re eating more potassium, you should still try to limit your sodium intake to support your heart health.

Key Takeaways

Cardiovascular disease is theleading cause of death among womenin the United States.A new study found that women who ate a high-sodium diet got heart health benefits from upping their intake of potassium-rich foods, especially when it came to blood pressure.Even if you’re eating more potassium, you should still try to limit your sodium intake to support your heart health.

While the most straightforward way to prevent the negative effects of eating sodium is to limit your intake of the tasty mineral, a new study has shown that there’s another step that could offer heart-health benefits—especially for women.

Lowering Your Salt Intake Could Help You Live Longer

Sodium, Potassium, and Heart Health

Potassiumis a key component of a heart-healthy diet. In fact, a recent study published in theEuropean Heart Journalshowed just how important potassium intake is forcardiovascular health—especially for women.

To explore how sodium and potassium intakes were linked to cardiovascular health, the researchers analyzed health data on more almost 25,000 middle-aged and older adults in the United Kingdom.

The participants provided information about their diets, had their blood pressure measurements taken, and gave urine samples. The researchers used the urine to check the participants’ potassium andsodium levels.

Based on the data they collected, the researchers grouped the participants based on their sodium and potassium intakes: high, medium, or low.

Can Eating Too Much Salt Cause Headaches?

Why Would Women Get More Benefits?

The results suggested that sodium and potassium intakes were linked to blood pressure levels in some of the women in the study. Specifically, the women who consumed a high-salt diet seemed to get the most cardiovascular health benefits when they also had higher potassium intakes. Their blood pressure decreased 2.4 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) for every additional gram of potassium.

Liffert Vogt, MD, PhD, a nephrologist in Amsterdam and one of the investigators on the study, told Verywell that the different effects observed between the sexes were surprising.

While Vogt can’t say exactly why the benefit was seen in women and not in men, she suggested one explanation could be that “the kidneys are better at excreting excessive salt into the urine in women as compared to men.”

Vogt also pointed out that dietary sources of potassium might be different between men and women.

That’s not to say that only women benefitted from eating potassium-rich foods. After the 20-year follow-up, the researchers found that the people who got the most potassium in their diets were also the least likely to have cardiovascular events or die, regardless of their sex.

Switching to a Salt Substitute May Lower Your Stroke Risk

More Potassium Won’t a Make a High-Salt Diet Healthy

There are some limitations to the study—including that the measures of potassium and sodium only represented just one moment in time and the results were based on urine samples, and it was not a randomized double-blind study.

However, the results do offer a step that people who are trying to support their heart health might consider when it comes to optimizing their nutrient intake.

“Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women in the U.S., but previous recommendations to ‘limit salt intake’ don’t seem to go far enough in terms of preventing negative outcomes,”Melissa Azzaro, RDN, LD, a registered dietitian and podcast host atHormonally Yours, told Verywell. “[This study] demonstrates that potassium may be a crucial missing piece of the puzzle.”

Shake Off the Salt

At least for women, it seems like consuming more potassium foods, like produce and beans, may help offset some of the negative effects of a high-salt diet.

“If you’ve been told to limit salt in your diet, you may also want to consider adding potassium-rich foods to reap the full benefits,” Azzaro said.

Can You Get Too Much Potassium?If you can get too much salt in your diet, could you also get too much potassium? Vogt said that’s generally not a concern for people withnormal kidney function.

Can You Get Too Much Potassium?

If you can get too much salt in your diet, could you also get too much potassium? Vogt said that’s generally not a concern for people withnormal kidney function.

However, it’s important to be clear that the study is not saying that you can eat as much salt as you want as long as you’re getting enough potassium in your diet.

“Restricting sodium in our diets is still very crucial,” said Vogt, though she acknowledged it can be hard to cut back, especially considering how many of the foods in astandard American dietcontain high amounts of it.

Tips for Eating Less Salt

Pile on Potassium

With that in mind, including more potassium-rich foods in your diet while also trying to limit your sodium intake can be one of the best things you can do for your heart.

Here are a few simple ways to get more potassium in your diet:

What This Means For YouIf you tend to eat a lot of salty foods, taking steps to cut back on your sodium intake while also adding more potassium-rich foods to your diet could support your cardiovascular health—especially if you’re a woman.

What This Means For You

If you tend to eat a lot of salty foods, taking steps to cut back on your sodium intake while also adding more potassium-rich foods to your diet could support your cardiovascular health—especially if you’re a woman.

3 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Women and heart disease.Wang YJ, Yeh TL, Shih MC, Tu YK, Chien KL.Dietary sodium intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.Nutrients. 2020;12(10):2934. doi:10.3390/nu12102934Wouda RD, Boekholdt SM, Khaw KT, et al.Sex-specific associations between potassium intake, blood pressure, and cardiovascular outcomes: the EPIC-Norfolk study.Eur Heart J. 2022;43(30):2867-2875. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehac313

3 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Women and heart disease.Wang YJ, Yeh TL, Shih MC, Tu YK, Chien KL.Dietary sodium intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.Nutrients. 2020;12(10):2934. doi:10.3390/nu12102934Wouda RD, Boekholdt SM, Khaw KT, et al.Sex-specific associations between potassium intake, blood pressure, and cardiovascular outcomes: the EPIC-Norfolk study.Eur Heart J. 2022;43(30):2867-2875. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehac313

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Women and heart disease.Wang YJ, Yeh TL, Shih MC, Tu YK, Chien KL.Dietary sodium intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.Nutrients. 2020;12(10):2934. doi:10.3390/nu12102934Wouda RD, Boekholdt SM, Khaw KT, et al.Sex-specific associations between potassium intake, blood pressure, and cardiovascular outcomes: the EPIC-Norfolk study.Eur Heart J. 2022;43(30):2867-2875. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehac313

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Women and heart disease.

Wang YJ, Yeh TL, Shih MC, Tu YK, Chien KL.Dietary sodium intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.Nutrients. 2020;12(10):2934. doi:10.3390/nu12102934

Wouda RD, Boekholdt SM, Khaw KT, et al.Sex-specific associations between potassium intake, blood pressure, and cardiovascular outcomes: the EPIC-Norfolk study.Eur Heart J. 2022;43(30):2867-2875. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehac313

Meet Our Medical Expert Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit

What is your feedback?