Dietary potassium and blood pressure in a population.

A population based study of 685 men and women aged 20 to 79 yr in a predominantly Caucasian community in Southern California found dietary potassium intake estimated from 24-h recall dietary history to be significantly and negatively correlated with age-adjusted systolic pressure in both men and women and with age-adjusted diastolic blood pressure in men. These correlations remained after exclusion of persons taking antihypertension medication or those with categorical hypertension (blood pressure greater than 160/95), and also persisted after adjusting for other dietary variables including alcohol and calcium intake. In women, correlations with blood pressure increased after excluding those taking sex hormones, suggesting that hormonal status may be an important determinant of blood pressure in women and may obscure other relationships. These findings support the etiological relationship of dietary potassium with blood pressure in populations.