(P42-29-26) Study Protocol: Examining the Feasibility of Nutrition Education to Increase Potassium Intake Versus Reduce Sodium Intake and Efficacy to Improve Vascular Health

Objectives: Mitigating the deleterious effects of sodium early in adulthood is ideal for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. However, reducing sodium intake is challenging. Results from controlled feeding studies in young adults show that a high potassium intake offsets sodium-induced vascular endothelial dysfunction, which is a key CVD risk factor. Whether increasing habitual potassium intake is achievable and effective outside the laboratory setting remains unknown. Our objective is to determine whether young, healthy adults who typically consume ≥3,000 mg sodium/day can more successfully achieve a self-selected high-potassium intake (goal: ≥4,700 mg/day) compared with a self-selected low-sodium intake (goal: ≤1,500 mg/day), and whether these dietary changes result in measurable improvements in endothelial function. We hypothesize participants will be more compliant with a self-selected high-potassium diet compared with a low-sodium diet and will experience greater improvements in vascular endothelial function relative to pre-intervention.

Methods: This is a double-masked, randomized, parallel-arm study. Twenty-four participants will be randomly assigned to receive comprehensive dietary education on adopting either a high-potassium diet or a low-sodium diet. Education will be delivered by a registered dietitian or graduate-level dietetics student in four weekly one-on-one sessions. Participants will only receive education on their assigned mineral and will not be given information about the other mineral. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to sodium and potassium intake will be assessed pre- and post-education. Dietary intakes of sodium and potassium will be assessed via 24-hour urine collection and 3-day diet records at baseline and two, four, and six months post-education. Vascular endothelial function will be assessed via brachial artery flow-mediated dilation at baseline and two, four, and six months post-education.

Results: Participant enrollment and data collection are ongoing.

Conclusions: This research will provide valuable evidence to inform future research to optimize dietary intervention strategies to reduce the burden of CVD among American adults.

Funding Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, UF-FSU Clinical and Translational Science Award