A study in care homes found that preparing meals with potassium-enriched salt, instead of regular salt, lowered the blood pressure of people aged over 55 and reduced their risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes
By Alice Klein
13 April 2023
People aged over 55 may be among the most at risk of the effects of high blood pressure – and could have the most to gain from switching to low-sodium alternatives
Kristo-Gothard Hunor/Shutterstock
Replacing regular table salt with a potassium-enriched substitute reduces blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, among people who are over 55 and living in care homes.
Salt contains sodium, which can increase blood pressure. Salt substitutes that replace some of this sodium with potassium may lower blood pressure, however, few studies have shown their effectiveness among people over 55. Our blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular events increases with age, so these people may have the most to gain by making the swap. There are also concerns that these substitutes may cause high levels of potassium in the blood, called hyperkalemia, which can lead to serious heart problems in some cases.
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In a clinical trial made up of 1612 people who were living in 48 care facilities in China, meals were prepared with either regular salt containing 100 per cent sodium chloride or with a potassium-enriched salt substitute containing 62.5 per cent sodium chloride and 25 per cent potassium chloride, alongside other flavourings. Some of the participants also ate meals with just less salt in general. The participants were all over 55 years old, with an average age of 71.
At the start of the study, the average blood pressure of the participants was 137.5/80.5 millimetres of mercury (mmHg), with the higher number representing systolic blood pressure – the force at which your heart pumps blood around your body – and the lower number showing diastolic blood pressure – the resistance to the blood flow in the blood vessels. An ideal reading is usually considered to be between 90/60mmHg and 120/80mmHg.
Almost two-thirds of the participants had high blood pressure at the beginning of the trial.