Reduce your blood pressure? Eat more bananas and fish.

listen to ‘Potassium helps reduce blood pressure’ on Audioboo

Image courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The British Medical Journal has published research which suggests that increasing the amount of dietary potassium and cutting down on salt intake will bring down blood pressure, according to an article published by the BBC News website.

Results from the research showed that a daily diet of 3-4g of potassium brought about a reduction in blood pressure. Foods such as chicken and fish are excellent sources of the mineral. Other foods that contain plenty of potassium also include bananas, kiwi fruit and potatoes.

But why is potassium so important for the body? As far as the heart is concerned, potassium's role is to protect the cardiovascular system by reducing the sensitivity of sodium. Salt mainly contains sodium and a reduced salt intake will cause the blood pressure not to go up drastically.

Increasing potassium intake to recommended levels joins other positive actions such as lowering caffeine intake, increased level of exercise and quitting smoking. Around a third of adults in Scotland were diagnosed with high blood pressure in 2008/2009, according to the Scottish Health Survey.