How Do Dietary Sodium and Potassium Affect Blood Pressure in Adolescent Girls?

Although great emphasis has been placed on reducing dietary sodium intake as a preventive and/or therapeutic approach for hypertension, little attention has been given to the role of dietary potassium in blood pressure control in adolescents.

In a 10-year, prospective, longitudinal study, researchers assessed the relationship between dietary sodium and potassium intake and blood pressure in 2379 white and black girls initially enrolled at ages 9 or 10 years during 1987 and 1988. They found no relationship between sodium intake ranging from 2500 mg/day to <4000 mg/day and either systolic or diastolic blood pressure. Dietary potassium intake was found to be inversely associated with both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in late adolescenc…