High blood pressure diet: 16p fruit is 'best way' to avoid horror silent killer

Bananas are the best way to beat high blood pressure, according to new research.

The fruit and are key sources of potassium which helps regulate , say scientists. The new study suggests increasing the ratio of dietary potassium to sodium intake may be more effective for lowering blood pressure than simply reducing salt in the diet.

High blood pressure - often referred to as the "silent killer"- affects more than three in 10 adults, and is the leading cause of coronary heart disease and stroke. It may also trigger other health issues, including chronic kidney disease, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, and .

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Professor Anita Layton, of the University of Waterloo, Canada, said: "Usually, when we have high blood pressure, we are advised to eat less salt. Our research suggests that adding more potassium-rich foods to your diet, such as bananas or broccoli, might have a greater positive impact on your blood pressure than just cutting sodium."

She explained that potassium and sodium are both electrolytes – substances that help the body send electrical signals to contract muscles. They also affect the amount of water in the body as well as performing other essential functions.

Study lead author Melissa Stadt, a doctoral candidate in Waterloo's Department of Applied Mathematics, said: "Early humans ate lots of fruits and vegetables, and as a result, our body's regulatory systems may have evolved to work best with a high potassium, low sodium diet. Today, western diets tend to be much higher in sodium and lower in potassium.

"That may explain why high blood pressure is found mainly in industrialised societies, not in isolated societies." While previous research found that increasing potassium intake can help control blood pressure, the Canadian team developed a mathematical model that successfully identifies how the ratio of potassium to sodium impacts the body.

The model also identifies how sex differences affect the relationship between potassium and blood pressure. The study, published in the American Journal of Physiology, found that men develop high blood pressure more easily than pre-menopausal women.

But men are also more likely to respond positively to an increased ratio of potassium to sodium, according to the findings. The research team say that mathematical models, like the one used in the study, allows experiments to identify how different factors impact the body quickly, cheaply, and ethically.