Potassium intake and risk of incident type 2 diabetes mellitus: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study.
OBJECTIVE
Serum potassium has been found to be a significant predictor of diabetes risk, but the effect of dietary potassium on diabetes risk is not clear. We sought to determine if dietary potassium is associated with risk of incident type 2 diabetes in young adults.


METHODS
We used data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. Potassium intake was measured by (1) an average of three 24 h urinary potassium collections at the 5-year study visit, and (2) the CARDIA dietary assessment instrument at baseline. Incident type 2 diabetes cases were ascertained on the basis of use of diabetes medication and laboratory measurements. Analyses were adjusted for relevant confounders including intake of fruit and vegetables and other dietary factors.


RESULTS
Of 1,066 participants with urinary potassium measurements, 99 (9.3%) developed diabetes over 15 years of follow-up. In multivariate models, adults in the lowest urinary potassium quintile were more than twice as likely to develop diabetes as their counterparts in the highest quintile (HR 2.45; 95% CI 1.08, 5.59). Of 4,754 participants with dietary history measurements, 373 (7.8%) developed diabetes over 20 years of follow-up. In multivariate models, African-Americans had a significantly increased risk of diabetes with lower potassium intake, which was not found in whites.


CONCLUSIONS
Low dietary potassium is associated with increased risk of incident diabetes in African-Americans. Randomised clinical trials are needed to determine if potassium supplementation, from either dietary or pharmacological sources, could reduce the risk of diabetes, particularly in higher-risk populations.
Duke University School of Medicine, Sutton Station Internal Medicine, 5832 Fayetteville Road, Suite 113, Durham, NC 27713, USA. ranee.chatterjee@duke.edu
R
R
Chatterjee
L A
LA
Colangelo
H C
HC
Yeh
C A
CA
Anderson
M L
ML
Daviglus
K
K
Liu
F L
FL
Brancati
D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017419:Potassium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000652:urine; D012306:Risk; D014675:Vegetables; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American
D017419:Potassium, Dietary