A new study from the Department of Epidemiology and Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York (USA) states that postmenopausal women who eat foods high in potassium are less likely to have strokes and die than those who eat less rich in this mineral.
The study, which has been published in the Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association , looked at 90,137 postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 79, over about 11 years , during which they analyzed both the amount of potassium that they consumed as if they had suffered strokes or even if they had died during the follow-up period of the study.
Research results revealed that women who had consumed the most potassium were 12% less likely to have strokes overall and were 16% less likely to have an ischemic stroke than those who took the least. Similarly, the women who had ingested the most potassium were 10% less likely to die than the other participants.
According to Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, lead author of the study, “Our findings give women another reason to eat fruits and vegetables, which are good sources of potassium. Potassium not only lowers postmenopausal women’s risk of stroke, but also death . There are no high levels of potassium in junk food. Some foods rich in potassium are white potatoes and sweet potatoes, bananas and white beans. “
