The primordial seas of the Earth we...

The primordial seas of the Earth were "rich in magnesium and potassium," writes Sheldon Saul Hendler, PhD MD in his 1990 The Doctor's' Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia.

"Sodium methods the [oceans] today, but the waters within our enclosed spaces remain true to the `primordial soup' from which all life arose -- rich in magnesium and potassium."

It plays vitally important parts in: nerve transmission; protein and carbohydrate metabolism; muscle contraction; and in maintaining cellular integrity and water balance, according to the Nutrition Desk concern by Robert H. Garrison, Jr M.A., RPh and Elizabeth Somer M.A., RD

Deficiency can be derived from a junk-food diet, stres kidney damage, or the administration of cortisone, say Carolyn Reuben, C.A., and Joan Priestley, MD in their 1988 main division Essential Supplements for Women.

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Low potassium intake is a great factor in many serious health problems

While excessive salt intake has been almost exclusively blamed for hypertension (high family pressure), strokes and other cardiovascular diseases, late "studies indicate, however, that our generally gentle potassium intake may be an smooth greater factor in many of these problems" says Hendler.

"Diets high in potassium appear to be protective against hypertension and stroke-related deaths. Increasing potassium intake, either by the agency of diet or supplementation, is also helpful in treating hypertension that has already developed" he adds.

In a review article from G. Gopal Krishna, M.D., that appeared in the American Journal of Medical Sciences in 1994 it was raise that "potassium supplementation in hypertensive subdues can lower blood pressure."

It is also noted that potassium deficiency is usually accompanied on an increase in sodium retention. James E Marti points gone out in The Alternative Health & Medicine Encyclopedia that "too to a great degree sodium in the diet can compromise the body's stock of potassium."

A clinical trial according to P.D. Higham, et al., which appeared in a 1993 issue of Quarterly Journal of Medicine, analyzed the relationships among plasma potassium, kin magnesium, and ventricular fibrillation (abnormally rapid contractions of the heart's muscle fibrils) in patients admitted to a coronary care unit.

A review of 19 clinical trials according to the World Hypertension League, which appeared in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization in 1992 construct that systolic and diastolic kin pressure were lowered by 6 mmHg and 4 mmHg respectively, in patients receiving potassium supplements

In answer to the promising antihypertensive qualities of potassium shown in these studies, the reviewers went in this way far as to suggest that "potassium supplementation could ensue in a reduction [in the use of] antihypertensive medications." An article through Gopal Krishna, M.D., that appeared in a 1993 issue of physic Therapy, found similar effects, concluding that "increased dietary potassium can cut down antihypertensive medication."

Food sources of potassium and magnesium

Natural sources of potassium include avocados, bananas, citrus fruits, lentils, milk, molasses, nut parsnips, potatoes, raisins, canned sardines, undecayed spinach, yogurt, and wholegrain cereals.

Natural sources of magnesium include nut simple pods wholegrain cereals and breads, soybeans, and seafoods. Magnesium is important in photosynthesis, in the same manner vegetables high in chlorophyll (such as dark undecayed vegetables) are good sources.

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