title: Effects of potassium on blood pressure in salt-sensitive and salt-resistant black adolescents.
abstract: This study examined the effects of increasing dietary potassium on ambulatory blood pressure nondipping status (<10% decrease in blood pressure from awake to asleep) and cardiovascular reactivity in salt-sensitive and salt-resistant black adolescents. A sample of 58 normotensive (blood pressure, 101/57+/-9/4 mm Hg) black adolescents (aged 13 to 16 years) participated in a 5-day low sodium diet (50 mmol/24 h) followed by a 10-day high sodium diet (150 mmol/24 h NaCl supplement) to determine salt-sensitivity status. Participants showed a significant increase in urinary sodium excretion (24+/-19 to 224+/-65 mmol/24 h) and were identified as salt-sensitive if their mean blood pressure increase was >/=5 mm Hg from the low to high sodium diet. Sixteen salt-sensitive and 42 salt-resistant subjects were then randomly assigned to either a 3-week high potassium diet (80 mmol/24 h) or usual diet control group. Urinary potassium excretion significantly increased in the treatment group (35+/-7 to 57+/-21 mmol/24 h). At baseline, a significantly greater percentage of salt-sensitive (44%) compared with salt-resistant (7%) subjects were nondippers on the basis of diastolic blood pressure classifications (P<0.04). After the dietary intervention, all of the salt-sensitive subjects in the high potassium group achieved dipper status as a result of a drop in nocturnal diastolic blood pressure (daytime, 69 versus 67 mm Hg; nighttime, 69 versus 57 mm Hg). No significant group differences in cardiovascular reactivity were observed. These results suggest that a positive relationship between dietary potassium intake and blood pressure modulation can still exist even when daytime blood pressure is unchanged by a high potassium diet.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Hypertension, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Richmond, USA. dkwilson@hsc.vcu.edu
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Sica
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D044383:Black People; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D015924:Blood Pressure Monitors; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena / Q000187:drug effects; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011188:Potassium / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000652:urine; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012964:Sodium / Q000652:urine; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary; D012964:Sodium; D011188:Potassium