Potassium-rich foods can help offset high salt diet contribution to osteoporosis.

Potassium-rich foods can help offset high salt diet contribution to osteoporosis.

Eating potassium-rich foods such as bananas tomatoes and orange juice can help prevent osteoporosis for postmenopausal women by decreasing calcium losses, according to a UCSF study. In postmenopausal women the consumption of excessive salt has been shown to increase the level of bone minerals excreted through urine, although salt does not seem to effect younger women or men in a similar fashion, said study author Deborah Sellmeyer, MD, UCSF assistant adjunct professor of endocrinology and metabolism. While the benefits of dietary calcium and vitamin D for preserving bone density have long been established, the UCSF study is the first to examine the role of potassium in preventing bone density loss exacerbated by a high-salt diet.
Nsteoporosis affects an estimated 44 million Americans, mostly women. Although no studies have directly measured the level of dietary salt necessary to adversely affect bone mineral excretion, Americans eat twice as much salt (sodium chloride) as they should, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH recommends consumption
In the UCSF study, 60 healthy postmenopausal women were placed on a low salt diet (two grams / day) for an initial three weeks while their level of excreted calcium was measured. The level of excreted NTX, a bone protein, was also measured. A higher NTX level indicates that more bone is being broken down, or reabsorbed, leaving women at increased risk for fractures. Potassium rich foods.....

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