More scientific studies now support what we found out informally with the I Love To Cheat Diet.

Lowering your salt or sodium intake is not the only way to reduce high blood pressure; sometimes, it’s not even the best way.

According to a new study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, a low level of potassium in your diet could be a significant contributor to high blood pressure.

This is especially true if you’re African American.

The scientists studied data on around 3,300 patients from the Dallas Heart Study. They found that lower levels of dietary potassium were linked to higher blood pressure.

They determined this by looking at potassium levels in urine samples from the patients.

Even when controlling for race, age, diabetes, smoking, cholesterol and other cardiovascular risk factors, the effect of low potassium on blood pressure was serious.

In fact, the link between low potassium levels and high blood pressure appeared to be stronger than the link between sodium levels and high blood pressure.

One of the researchers also discovered that a certain gene, WNK1, may be responsible for how potassium affects blood pressure. But more studies need to be done to confirm the effect of this gene.

In the meantime, the scientists recommend that we not only reduce the sodium, but also increase the potassium in our diets to lower blood pressure.

High potassium foods include bananas and orange juice.

We did something similar with the I Love To Cheat Diet. By adding certain foods to her diet, my mother was able to reduce her blood pressure to 132/68 from 168/88 in 7 weeks without medication.

So I’m sold on the concept of adding certain foods to your diet to reduce high blood pressure.

But as with any medical condition, you should always check with your doctor before changing your diet, even to include more potassium as a way to combat high blood pressure.