Caution: Potassium may be good for your heart health, but not for your kidneys
By Sam Jones, Tufts University
You might not remember what you had for breakfast yesterday, but your body does. Every meal, good or bad, leaves its mark.
Your dietary habits are reflected in your bones, gut, heart, blood, and brain.
Over time,
what you eat influences key health indicators like cholesterol, blood pressure,
and blood sugar.
These three markers not only help assess your risk for heart disease, but they also play a major role in determining your risk of stroke.
Strokes, whether caused by a blocked or burst blood vessel in the brain, are
closely linked to diet. The good news: making healthier food choices can
significantly reduce your stroke risk.
“Dramatically changing your diet is difficult, so you should take it one step at a time,” says José M. Ordovás, senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) and a professor at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. “It’s like that Chinese proverb, ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ The same applies to changes in the diet: it has to be gradual, but every step counts.”
Potassium: Salt’s Mighty Antidote
“Salt is one of the leading culprits behind strokes,”
Ordovás says.
Sodium, a key component of salt, helps regulate fluid
balance in the body. More salt causes the body to retain more fluid, which
bloats our blood cells and raises our blood pressure. High blood pressure can
burst a blood vessel like an overloaded pipe or it can make it easier to clot
and travel to the brain. Cue stroke.
Potassium is the counterweight to sodium; it helps relax our
blood vessel walls and dials down the blood pressure. However, this doesn’t
mean we can eat all the salt we want as long as we load up on potassium.
Ordovás recommends that, if you want to start changing your
diet to reduce your risk of stroke, start with reducing salt. At the same time,
he understands that salt is a major reason why our food tastes so good, and we
all deserve to enjoy what we eat.
Fresh herbs and spices pack a wallop of flavor when added to
just about anything. They add brightness or heat or zing that more than makes
up for the lack of salt. Processed foods are the major culprits of salt in our
diets, so he recommends swapping a processed snack here and there with your
favorite fruit. You can build on these habits as you develop new taste
preferences and routines.
While something like a potassium supplement can help
increase your intake, Ordovás says they will never provide all the benefits of
eating whole food.
“When you eat foods rich in potassium, you’re equipping your
body with more tools to fight stroke—not just through potassium itself, but
also through other beneficial compounds like antioxidants and anti-inflammatory
nutrients,” he says.
Luckily, grocery stores and markets are brimming with foods
packed with potassium. Bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, and
spinach are just some of the many foods high in this mighty antidote to our
salty nemesis.
Fats and Fibers: The Cholesterol Combatants
Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that does many good
things for the body, but too much of it can increase stroke risk. High
cholesterol can cause plaque buildup inside our arteries, narrowing them and
making blood clots more likely to form. If a clot reaches the brain, it can
cause a stroke.
Healthy, unsaturated fats can help combat cholesterol. These
fats remain liquid at room temperature and are found in foods like extra virgin
olive oil, nuts, avocados, and fatty fish rich in omega-3s. Replacing processed
snacks high in saturated fats with these healthier alternatives is a simple yet
effective swap.
Fiber is the other cholesterol rival, but is often in short
supply in the typical American diet. It binds to globules of cholesterol,
removing them from your body so they don’t end up in your bloodstream. Ordovás
notes that fruits, vegetables, and whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, and
oats all contribute to a heart-healthy diet.
Ultra-Processed is the Problem
“A popular concept these days, if you want to increase the
amount of the good things and decrease the amount of the bad things, is to
avoid ultra-processed foods,” Ordovás says.
Roughly 70% of the U.S. food supply is made up of
ultra-processed foods. These are foods that are often high in sugar, salt, and
fat and have added ingredients like preservatives, artificial flavors, and
colors.
Substituting some of the ultra-processed foods in our diet
with healthier foods can be a great way to start changing our health outcomes.
Instead of canned soup or frozen pizza, have homemade chili or pizza night
instead. For dessert, swap a bowl of ice cream every now and then with a few
squares of dark chocolate. Eating for stroke prevention doesn’t mean total
restriction.
Precision Nutrition
Advances in nutrition science are making health
recommendations more personalized than ever. A holistic approach that considers
genetics, lifestyle, and environmental factors is crucial for effective stroke
prevention.
Ordovás and other researchers are identifying genes linked
to a higher stroke risk. His studies suggest that the Mediterranean diet rich
in fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and whole grains is one of the most
effective ways to prevent someone’s first and recurrent strokes. Even for
older, high-risk people, dietary changes can lead to meaningful improvements.
“Brainfood, superfood — there is no magic bullet,” Ordovás
says. “The Mediterranean diet might be a ‘superdiet,’ but strokes are complex.
The solutions are complex, too.”