Medicine: Sodium, potassium, and cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease is a general term for medical conditions affecting the heart and/or the blood vessels. Generally speaking, cardiovascular disease can be prevented by leading a healthy lifestyle. In addition, eating a diet low in salt, i.e., low in sodium and high in potassium, is recommended, especially for patients with hypertension. One open-label, cluster-randomized clinical study that included thousands of people from 600 villages in rural China, with a medical history of stroke, 60 years of age or older, and who have high blood pressure, confirmed that eating a diet low in salt, i.e., low in sodium and high in potassium, decreases the rates of stroke, major cardiovascular events, and death from any cause.
Aldosterone is a hormone that controls the levels of sodium and potassium in the blood. Primary aldosteronism is a rare medical condition caused by the overproduction of the hormone aldosterone. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans with treatment-resistant hypertension were identified. Among these, there were a few thousand who were tested for primary aldosteronism. Those who had tested positive for primary aldosteronism had their therapy adjusted accordingly. The result: Testing for primary aldosteronism was associated with better blood pressure control over time in patients with treatment-resistant hypertension.