Why eating more bananas might help you live longer
Sodium and potassium intake and risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality: the Rotterdam Study
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Higher sodium intake showed no link to heart attacks, strokes, or death—even in overweight people.
For decades, public health guidelines have warned that salt causes heart disease. This large, well-designed study found no such link in older adults.
Practical Takeaways
Add one potassium-rich food to every meal—like spinach in your omelet, a banana with breakfast, or beans in your salad.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Higher sodium intake showed no link to heart attacks, strokes, or death—even in overweight people.
For decades, public health guidelines have warned that salt causes heart disease. This large, well-designed study found no such link in older adults.
Practical Takeaways
Add one potassium-rich food to every meal—like spinach in your omelet, a banana with breakfast, or beans in your salad.
Publication
Journal
European Journal of Epidemiology
Year
2003
Authors
J. Geleijnse, J. Witteman, T. Stijnen, M. Kloos, A. Hofman, D. Grobbee
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Claims (6)
Eating more potassium-rich foods like bananas and spinach can help lower your blood pressure and make it less likely you'll have a stroke or heart problem—especially if you're eating a lot of salty foods.
In older people in the Netherlands, how much salt they say they eat doesn’t seem to link to more heart problems or early death — maybe they’re not reporting it right, or salt just doesn’t affect them much at the levels they’re eating.
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.
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 older people in the Netherlands, eating a lot or a little salt doesn’t seem to reliably make heart problems or death more or less likely—even if they’re overweight. So salt intake probably isn’t a strong predictor of health outcomes in this group.