The modern diet contains much more salt and much less potassium than what our ancestors consumed during the course of evolution. The best sources of potassium are various plant-based foods, especially species from the potato family, vegetables and fruits as well as meat, fish and dairy. Earlier these foods covered the necessary daily intake, however, nowadays products made from refined flour and sugar largely replaced them. These products contain hardly any potassium while they are rich in added salt. 

It’s already been observed that higher potassium intake lowers blood pressure especially if it’s accompanied by reducing excessive salt consumption. (1) The DASH diet, which is a dietary pattern based on natural foods achieves the same thing, it results in a significant fall in blood pressure and has become an officially accepted method for decreasing blood pressure. (2) 
 
The aim of a study published in August 2022 was to establish the possible differences between women and men in this respect and whether potassium’s blood pressure lowering effect is linked to the participants’ salt intake. (3) 

~25,000 people’s data were analysed from an earlier, large-scale study. Their potassium and salt intake as well as their blood pressure was precisely measured and based on that they were divided into different groups. 19 years later the scientists checked the participants’ cardiovascular risk levels. 

Higher potassium intake significantly lowered female participants’ blood pressure. Women with the highest salt intake demonstrated the highest degree of blood pressure decrease, while this tendency wasn’t noticeable in the case of men. The risk of cardiovascular disease was much lower for both men and women with the highest potassium intake than for those who consumed less, and it was completely unrelated to their salt intake. 

This study also demonstrates that increasing potassium intake is a particularly good strategy to treat high blood pressure even without lowering salt intake (although the data shows that the participants’ salt intake wasn’t high to begin with). Women should pay extra attention to this because it seems that they react more sensitively to too low potassium intake than men especially if it’s accompanied by high salt intake.