When people cook and season with a potassium-rich salt substitute, they are less likely to have heart complications and have a lower risk of death. This shows the cross-study analysis of a team led by Xuejun Yin from the Australian University of New South Wales. The group published their results in the journal »Heart«.
If you mix sodium chloride, the classic table salt, with a certain amount of potassium chloride, this lowers blood pressure in the long term; not only because of the lower sodium intake, but also because potassium itself has antihypertensive properties. So far, however, there has been a lack of solid evidence that “blood pressure salt” or “diet salt”, as it is called in the trade, actually leads to fewer heart diseases. The new calculations by the Australian health researchers, based on five studies with a total of 24,000 subjects, showed that both the general risk of death and the probability of suffering a heart attack or stroke fell by eleven percent. The dietary salts used consisted of 25 to 65 percent potassium chloride.
Most of the data comes from a five-year study from China with 21,000 elderly and previously ill subjects. The remaining experiments also included younger people and those without high blood pressure, which is why the cardio-protective effect of salt substitutes can also be transferred to other sections of the population, according to the research group. However, these experiments worked with far fewer subjects. Only people with hyperkalemia, i.e. an increased potassium level, should avoid the measure. Kidney diseases in particular are a risk factor for this.