Loading...
Reducing dietary sodium, in combination with increasing dietary potassium, can lower blood pressure (BP) in some “salt-sensitive” people. To examine the effect of this combination on adverse cardiovascular events, researchers conducted an open-label, cluster-randomized trial that involved 21,000 people (mean age, 65) with histories of stroke or inadequately controlled hypertension in 600 rural Chinese communities. In 300 communities, participants were given a salt substitute (75% sodium chloride, 25% potassium chloride) to replace regular salt; in the other 300 communities, participants continued using regular salt.
During 5 years of follow-up, mean systolic BP was 3.3 mm Hg lower in the salt-substitute group than in the control group; salt …