If older Dutch people who’ve never had heart problems or high blood pressure eat more potassium-rich foods like bananas and spinach, they’re less likely to die from any cause over the next five years—so eating more potassium might help them live longer.

Eating more potassium-rich foods like bananas, spinach, and potatoes is linked to a lower risk of heart problems.

For older adults who are overweight but don’t have heart disease or high blood pressure, eating more salt than potassium might raise their chance of dying within 5 years by about 19%—so it’s not just how much salt or potassium you eat, but how they balance each other.

For people with high blood pressure, eating more potassium-rich foods leads to higher potassium levels in their bodies after a year, as measured by food records and urine tests.

If you eat a little more potassium-rich food each day—like bananas or spinach—you might lower your risk of stroke and reduce your blood pressure a bit, even if you don’t change how much salt you eat.

People who excrete more than 1.5 grams of potassium per day are less likely to die or have serious heart problems than those who excrete less, no matter how much salt they eat.