Tehran, YJC. Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have conducted a research into the effects of potassium on pregnant women.
The researchers, accompanied by Iranian-national Dr. Yasmin
Mossavar Rahmani, shows that pregnant women who include potassium-rich foods in
their diet show lower tendency to have heart or brain strokes.
Formerly, it had been known that potassium lowers blood
pressure, but it was unknown whether it influenced the stroke risk.
"Previous studies have shown that potassium consumption may
lower blood pressure. But whether potassium intake could prevent stroke or
death wasn’t clear,” said Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Ph.D., study senior
author and distinguished university professor emerita, department of
epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
Bronx, NY.
"Our findings give women another reason to eat their fruits
and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are good sources of potassium, and
potassium not only lowers postmenopausal women’s risk of stroke, but also
death.”
The researchers in this study used a sample group of 90
thousand women aging between 50 and 79 and made their observations during a
course of 11 years.
The results have been published in the American Heart
Association’s journal under the title "Potassium-rich foods cut stroke, death
risks among older women”.