Potassium or death
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Fruits such as bananas, as well as leafy green vegetables, salmon and other foods with lots of potassium are good for pretty much everyone’s health. And one study indicates a particular benefit for postmenopausal women. At Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, researchers SylviaWassertheil-Smoller and Arjun Seth saw it in 11 years of data on more than 90,000 women:
“Women who ate a potassium-rich diet had substantially lower risks of stroke and all-cause death.”
Dr. Smoller also says that most women don’t get nearly as much potassium as they should, so could do well with more. But she says people whose doctors have told them to watch their potassium levels may be an exception.
The study in the journal Stroke was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.