Tasty 40p fruit could slash blood pressure even when you've eaten lots of salt

A tasty 40p fruit could bring down blood pressure levels, even if you’ve eaten lots of salt. According to a new study, foods rich in potassium are key to lowering blood pressure. Having high blood pressure means the force of your blood pushing against your artery walls is consistently too high.

This puts extra strain on your heart and blood vessels and can cause lasting damage. It is also a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes, among other dangerous conditions. One way to lower your blood pressure is to adapt your diet.



It’s no secret that foods high in salt can raise blood pressure. This is because sodium causes the body to hold onto water, increasing blood volume and putting more pressure on blood vessels. Potassium has long been cited as a mineral that can mitigate this, as it can help extract sodium from the body and relax blood vessel walls.

Now a study has shown that this is the case even if you continue to eat a lot of salt. The research, which was published in the , showed that increasing potassium intake significantly reduced blood pressure, even when sodium levels stayed high. Scientists recorded drops of up to 14 mmHg in men and 10 mmHg in women.

This is a similar reduction to what you would expect from taking . As reported by , this suggests that you could partially offset the harmful effects of salty pizza or fries if you also eat plenty of potassium-rich foods. While bananas are known to be a potassium-rich food source, another fruit packs more of a punch when it comes to the mineral.

A serving of 100 grams of dried apricots contains 1,162mg of potassium. In comparison, 100g of banana contains 358mg of potassium. Other potassium-rich foods include almonds (705mg in 100g), spinach (558mg in 100g) and potatoes (421mg in 100g).

As part of the study, the team created sex-specific computer models to simulate how sodium, potassium, and fluid balance affects blood pressure throughout the body. The models accounted for known biological differences between males and females, including kidney function, hormone levels, nervous system activity, and blood vessel responses. They then ran simulations with different combinations of sodium intake, potassium intake, and various types of hypertension to see how these factors affect blood pressure differently in men versus women.

Simulations revealed that when potassium intake was doubled, blood pressure decreased significantly - by up to 14 mmHg in males and 10 mmHg in females with certain types of hypertension. Higher potassium intake was shown to counteract the blood pressure-raising effects of high sodium intake. At the time of reporting, you can buy a 40g packet of apricots from for 80p, working out as 40p per 20g serving.

If you are concerned about your blood pressure you should speak to your GP..