Zwei Änderungen an Ihrem Teller senken den Blutdruck: weniger Salz essen und nach dem DASH-Prinzip essen. DASH bedeutet mehr Gemüse, Obst, Bohnen, Nüsse und fettarme Milchprodukte sowie weniger verarbeitete Lebensmittel. Jede Maßnahme senkt den Druck für sich allein, und die Kombination beider Maßnahmen senkt ihn noch weiter – vor allem bei Menschen mit bereits bestehendem Bluthochdruck oder salzempfindlichem Blutdruck. In einer Studie mit fast 21.000 Personen im ländlichen China reduzierte der Austausch von gewöhnlichem Speisesalz durch einen Kalium-Salzersatz Schlaganfälle, kardiovaskuläre Ereignisse und Todesfälle.
Die meisten Menschen profitieren von beiden Änderungen. Der eine Punkt, bei dem Vorsicht geboten ist, betrifft das Kalium: Ein Salzersatz kann bei Menschen mit fortgeschrittener Nierenerkrankung oder unter bestimmten blutdrucksenkenden Medikamenten den Blutkaliumspiegel zu stark ansteigen lassen. Prüfen Sie dies zuerst. Um zu beginnen, kochen Sie mehr aus ganzen Zutaten, erhöhen Sie Ihren Kaliumgehalt durch den Verzehr von mehr pflanzlichen Lebensmitteln und streben Sie einen moderaten Natriumkonsum an.
Findings & Outcomes
What It Is
Sodium and potassium push blood pressure in opposite directions: too much sodium and too little potassium raise it. Most sodium is not added at the table. About 70% of the sodium in a typical American diet is already in packaged and restaurant food: bread, processed meat, sauces, cheese, canned goods. It is engineered into the supply before you cook.
The DASH diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, builds meals on vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, whole grains and low-fat dairy. It goes lighter on red meat, sweets and saturated fat. The DASH plate is also rich in potassium, the mineral that lowers pressure.
What It Does
SSaSS, the largest outcome trial, ran about five years. Stroke fell 14%, major cardiovascular events 13%, and deaths 12%.
The full DASH plate does more than cutting salt: at low sodium it lowered systolic pressure 8.9 mmHg against a typical high-salt diet in the DASH-Sodium trial. In people who already had high blood pressure, it fell 11.5 mmHg.
Cutting salt by itself still lowers pressure. Across 34 trials, removing about a teaspoon of salt a day lowered systolic pressure about 4.2 mmHg, and the fall grew the more salt people cut.
Potassium opposes sodium. Raising it on its own lowered pressure and tracked with about 25% fewer strokes.
The Research & Studies
Everything here is based on the research we have collected and checked, sorted into groups and ordered with the strongest evidence first. Click any claim to open the studies behind it.
Heart And Vascular
The DASH diet lowered systolic pressure 5.5 mmHg without cutting salt, and 11.4 in people with high blood pressure
Eating the DASH way, lots of vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts and low-fat dairy and less processed food, lowered blood pressure over eight weeks even without changing salt or losing weight, and it worked best in people who already had high pressure.
Against a typical American control diet at the same sodium intake, the DASH diet lowered systolic blood pressure by 5.5 mmHg and diastolic by 3.0 mmHg over eight weeks, with a larger fall in people who began with hypertension (11.4/5.5 mmHg). Measured in: 459 adults with systolic pressure below 160 and diastolic 80 to 95 mmHg, roughly half women and about 60% Black, fed all meals for 11 weeks. This was a feeding study where every meal was provided, so it shows what the pattern does under full adherence, not how much benefit remains when people cook for themselves at home. It held sodium and body weight constant to isolate the dietary pattern.
The study · 1
Appel et al., a clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure (DASH) · N Engl J Med 1997;336(16):1117-24
DASH plus low sodium cut systolic pressure 8.9 mmHg versus a high-salt typical diet, and 11.5 in people with hypertension
Doing both at once, eating the DASH way and cutting salt, lowered blood pressure more than either change alone, and the drop was biggest in people who started with high pressure.
The DASH diet at the lowest sodium level lowered systolic pressure by 8.9 mmHg compared with a control diet at high sodium, and by 11.5 mmHg in participants with hypertension. Within each diet, cutting sodium from high to low lowered pressure further, so the two effects added together. Measured in: 412 adults with systolic 120 to 159 and diastolic 80 to 95 mmHg, about 57% women and 57% Black, fed all meals across three sodium levels. A controlled feeding study over about a month at each sodium level, so it demonstrates the ceiling of the combined effect under full adherence, not the effect at home. The lowest sodium arm was roughly 1.5 grams of sodium a day.
The study · 1
Sacks et al., effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the DASH diet · N Engl J Med 2001;344(1):3-10
A potassium salt substitute cut stroke 14%, cardiovascular events 13%, and death 12%
In a large trial, families who used a potassium-based salt substitute instead of ordinary salt had fewer strokes, fewer heart attacks and strokes combined, and fewer deaths over about five years.
Replacing regular salt with a substitute of 75% sodium chloride and 25% potassium chloride lowered the rate of stroke by 14% (RR 0.86), major cardiovascular events by 13% (RR 0.87), and death from any cause by 12% (RR 0.88) over a mean 4.7 years. Measured in: 20,995 adults in 600 rural Chinese villages, about 49% women, all with prior stroke or aged 60-plus with high blood pressure. The participants were older with a history of stroke or hypertension, so the absolute benefit is largest in high-risk groups and cannot be assumed identical in a young, low-risk person. The trial deliberately excluded people at risk of high potassium.
The study · 1
Neal et al., effect of salt substitution on cardiovascular events and death (SSaSS) · N Engl J Med 2021;385(12):1067-1077
Cutting about a teaspoon of salt a day lowered systolic pressure 4.2 mmHg, and 5.4 in people with high blood pressure
Cutting salt by about a teaspoon a day lowered blood pressure across dozens of trials, roughly twice as much in people who already had high pressure as in those who did not.
A modest cut in salt of about 4.4 grams a day lowered systolic pressure by about 4.2 mmHg overall, about 5.4 mmHg in people with hypertension, and about 2.4 mmHg in those without, with a larger fall the greater the reduction in salt. Measured in: 34 randomized trials of at least four weeks, pooling 3,230 adults. The trials lasted weeks to a few months, so they measure the blood-pressure response, not the long-term outcome, and salt intake was reduced by more than most people achieve unaided.
The study · 1
He et al., effect of longer term modest salt reduction on blood pressure, Cochrane meta-analysis · BMJ 2013;346:f1325
Every 100 mmol less sodium a day, about 2.3 g, lowered systolic pressure 5.6 mmHg, and 6.5 in people with high blood pressure
The more salt people cut, the more their blood pressure dropped, in a steady step-by-step way with no point where cutting further stopped helping. For each teaspoon or so of salt cut a day, the top blood pressure number fell by about 5 to 6 points, and more in people who already had high pressure.
Across 85 randomized trials with sodium intake from 0.4 to 7.6 grams a day, blood pressure fell in step with how much sodium was cut, with no floor within that range. For every 100 mmol of sodium cut per day, about 2.3 grams or roughly a teaspoon of salt, systolic pressure fell about 5.6 mmHg, and about 6.5 mmHg in people with high blood pressure against about 2.3 in those without. The relationship was close to linear and steeper at higher starting pressure. Measured in: 85 randomized trials pooled in a dose-response meta-analysis. Most contributing trials were short, so this describes the pressure response to a change in intake, not the net effect on disease, which other designs address.
The study · 1
Filippini et al., blood pressure effects of sodium reduction, dose-response meta-analysis · Circulation 2021;143(16):1542-1567
The higher the starting pressure, the bigger the drop: about 5 mmHg near normal, about 21 at 150 and above
The higher your blood pressure to begin with, the more this diet lowered it: a small drop for people near normal, and a large one for people whose pressure was already high.
In a secondary analysis of the DASH-Sodium trial, the blood-pressure fall from combining the DASH diet with low sodium grew with baseline pressure: about 5 mmHg systolic in those starting below 130, rising to about 21 mmHg in those starting at 150 or above. Measured in: The 412 DASH-Sodium participants, grouped by baseline systolic pressure. The highest-pressure subgroups were small, so the 21 mmHg figure carries wider uncertainty than the average effect, and regression to the mean inflates apparent change in the highest-starting group.
The study · 1
Juraschek et al., effects of sodium reduction and the DASH diet in relation to baseline blood pressure · J Am Coll Cardiol 2017;70(23):2841-2848
Lower sodium intake tracked with fewer strokes and fewer fatal heart attacks
Across the evidence, eating less salt lowered blood pressure and went with fewer strokes and fewer deaths from heart disease.
Lower sodium intake reduced blood pressure in adults and was associated with lower risk of stroke and fatal coronary heart disease, with no adverse effect on blood lipids or catecholamines at the intakes examined in the outcome analyzes. Measured in: A WHO-commissioned review pooling controlled trials and cohort studies of adults and children. The disease-outcome part rests partly on observational data, and the review pooled trials of differing quality and duration, so the size of the outcome benefit is less certain than the blood-pressure effect.
The study · 1
Aburto et al., effect of lower sodium intake on health, systematic review and meta-analyzes · BMJ 2013;346:f1326
More potassium lowered systolic pressure 3.5 mmHg and tracked with 24% fewer strokes
Eating more potassium, the mineral plants are rich in, lowered blood pressure, mostly in people who already had high pressure, and went with a lower risk of stroke.
Raising potassium intake lowered systolic pressure by about 3.5 mmHg in adults overall, an effect seen in people with high blood pressure but not in those without, and was associated with a 24% lower risk of stroke. Measured in: Randomized trials and cohort studies of adults pooled in a WHO-commissioned review. The stroke figure comes from cohort data and carries the usual confounding of dietary observation, since high-potassium eaters differ in many ways. The blood-pressure effect was minimal in people who were not hypertensive.
The study · 1
Aburto et al., effect of increased potassium intake on cardiovascular risk factors and disease · BMJ 2013;346:f1378
Potassium lowered blood pressure most at moderate intake and in high-salt eaters, in a U-shaped dose-response
Adding potassium lowered blood pressure up to a point, and it helped most in people eating a lot of salt, which suggests the balance between the two minerals matters more than either by itself.
Blood pressure fell as potassium intake rose, but the benefit weakened once the daily increase passed about 30 mmol and pressure edged back up above about 80 mmol, a U-shaped relationship. The fall was greatest in people with high blood pressure and those whose sodium intake was high, pointing to the sodium-to-potassium balance, not either mineral alone. Measured in: 32 randomized controlled trials pooled in a dose-response meta-analysis. Contributing trials were mostly short-term and used potassium supplements, not food, so the figure describes supplemental potassium and may not map exactly onto potassium eaten as vegetables and fruit.
The study · 1
Filippini et al., potassium intake and blood pressure, dose-response meta-analysis · J Am Heart Assoc 2020;9(12):e015719
People who cut salt in a trial had 25 to 30% fewer cardiovascular events 10 to 15 years later
People who had taken part in salt-cutting programs had fewer heart attacks and strokes 10 to 15 years later than those who had not.
In long-term follow-up of two sodium-reduction trials, people randomized to the sodium-reduction programs had 25 to 30% lower risk of a cardiovascular event 10 to 15 years later than those who were not. Measured in: 2,415 adults with high-normal blood pressure from the Trials of Hypertension Prevention, followed observationally after the trials ended. What could explain it instead: After the trials ended, the groups were no longer kept on their assigned diets, so differences in later lifestyle, weight and medical care could contribute to the outcome gap, not the original sodium reduction alone.. The original assignment was randomized, but the long-term outcome tracking was observational after the intervention ended, so later differences in behavior between the groups cannot be fully ruled out. The event count over follow-up was modest.
The study · 1
Cook et al., long term effects of dietary sodium reduction on cardiovascular disease outcomes (TOHP) · BMJ 2007;334(7599):885
Both high sodium (above 7 g) and low (below 3 g) tracked with more deaths than a middle intake
In a study following people across many countries, both very high and very low salt intake went with worse outcomes than a middle amount. The low-salt end is hard to trust because sick people often already eat less salt, and intake was estimated from a single urine sample.
In a large international cohort, both high estimated sodium intake (above about 7 grams a day) and low intake (below about 3 grams a day) were associated with higher death and cardiovascular events than a middle range, forming a J-shaped curve, not a straight line. Measured in: 101,945 adults across 17 countries in the PURE study, followed a mean of 3.7 years. What could explain it instead: People with low measured sodium include those already sick or frail who have cut back, and single-sample estimation misclassifies intake, so the apparent harm at low sodium may reflect illness and measurement error, not the salt itself.. Sodium was estimated from a single morning urine sample, which is an imprecise measure of habitual intake, and reverse causation is a live concern because people already ill often eat less salt, which can create an apparent risk at low intake.
The study · 1
O'Donnell et al., urinary sodium and potassium excretion, mortality, and cardiovascular events (PURE) · N Engl J Med 2014;371(7):612-23
How it works
Very low sodium raised renin, aldosterone and stress hormones, with small rises in cholesterol and triglycerides
When sodium goes very low, the body raises its stress and salt-holding hormones, and cholesterol and triglycerides edge up a little. It is one reason a moderate cut is better than chasing the lowest possible intake.
Cutting sodium lowered blood pressure but also raised renin, aldosterone, adrenaline and noradrenaline, and produced small rises in total cholesterol of about 5.2 mg/dL (0.13 mmol/L) and in triglycerides of about 7.1 mg/dL (0.08 mmol/L), with the hormonal rises largest at the lowest intakes. Measured in: 195 randomized studies pooled in a Cochrane review of low versus high sodium diets. These are short-term biochemical responses whose long-term clinical meaning is contested, and the lipid changes were small and drawn largely from very-low-sodium arms, so they weigh most against chasing an extreme, not against moderate reduction.
The study · 1
Graudal et al., effects of low sodium diet versus high sodium diet on blood pressure, renin, aldosterone, catecholamines, cholesterol, and triglyceride · Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2020;12(12):CD004022
How It Works
Sodium holds water. To keep the salt concentration in the blood steady, the body retains more fluid. That raises the volume inside the vessels, and the pressure against their walls. Held high for years, that pressure stiffens the small arteries. Cutting sodium reverses part of the change, the same pathway the DASH-Sodium and salt-reduction trials acted on.
Potassium works through two routes. It helps the kidney release sodium, and it relaxes the walls of the vessels. That is why a salt substitute does double duty: a single swap lowers sodium while raising potassium.
The mechanism claims rest on controlled trials; the idea that very low sodium is itself harmful rests only on population studies.
Ways to Do It
You can start today for nothing, and the more convenient routes mostly save you cooking time. Change one thing at a time so your taste can adjust, which takes a week or two. Read labels in milligrams of sodium, because how salty a food tastes is a poor guide: bread and breakfast cereal carry more sodium than their taste suggests. If you have kidney disease or take a blood-pressure drug, check your potassium before using a salt substitute.
Cooking from whole ingredients is the single change that does the most, and it costs nothing. Build meals the DASH way, with plants at the center; it raises potassium too. Season with herbs, garlic, citrus, vinegar and spice, and taste before you add salt.
A salt substitute is part sodium chloride, part potassium chloride. One swap cuts sodium and adds potassium, the change tested in SSaSS. It costs a little more than table salt and needs no new habits. It is not suitable for advanced kidney disease or a potassium-sparing drug, where it can push potassium too high.
You can buy your own blood-pressure cuff. Direct-to-consumer testing services will run a kidney panel and electrolytes without a referral. That shows your potassium and kidney function before you start a substitute, and lets you watch your own pressure respond over a few weeks.
Go Deeper
Some people's pressure swings sharply with the salt they eat, and they have the most to gain. Salt-sensitivity grows more common with age and in people of African or East Asian ancestry, whose vessels and kidneys hold onto sodium more readily.
Changing what you eat is the first step against high blood pressure, and it is free.
- High blood pressure: the condition these two changes address, where they come before any drug.
- Whole foods: eating this way raises potassium on its own, the same work a salt swap does.
- Resistance training: lowers pressure by a separate route, adding to what less salt and the DASH plate do.
The Chinese Medicine View
Chinese medicine files salt under the salty flavor, 咸味, one of the five flavors. It enters the Kidney, softens hardness, and guides a formula's action downward. In small, correct amounts the salty flavor supports the Kidney; salt is deliberately used to fry certain herbs so their action is directed there. The tradition treats salt as a tool to be dosed.
The Su Wen warns that flavors eaten to excess do harm. Too much salt, it says, makes the pulse congeal and change: 多食咸，則脈凝泣而變色. Overindulging the salty flavor taxes the large bones, wastes the flesh, and oppresses the Heart Qi. Read loosely, that old warning about excess salt and a burdened heart resembles the modern picture of stiffened vessels and cardiac strain, an interesting historical guess, not a text that anticipated the physiology.
The right version depends on the person and the season. Someone with internal heat (a red face, wiry pulse, thirst, constipation) fits the cooling, plant-heavy DASH pattern well. Someone who runs cold and depleted fits a Kidney Yang deficiency pattern: cold limbs, loose stools, low energy. They do better with warmth and a gentle reduction than with an aggressively low-salt diet. Your own pattern is worth asking a practitioner about.
Cautions
Both changes are safe for most people. The exceptions are about potassium and about treatments that already balance your salt and fluid.
Cautions For This Practice
Everything to be aware of is here, in one place. This practice suits most healthy people; a few situations call for real care.
The salt substitute did not raise serious high-potassium events (risk ratio 1.04)
The same trial found no significant increase in serious clinical hyperkalemia with the salt substitute compared with regular salt (RR 1.04), in a population screened to exclude those already at risk of high potassium. Reassurance about potassium applies to the population studied, which specifically screened out advanced kidney disease and potassium-sparing drugs. It does not extend to those excluded groups, for whom that risk remains.Neal et al., effect of salt substitution on cardiovascular events and death (SSaSS)
Salt substitutes and potassium: the main hazard
Potassium salt substitutes replace some sodium with potassium chloride. In most people the kidney clears the extra potassium easily. SSaSS found no rise in serious high-potassium events, but it screened out advanced kidney disease and anyone on a potassium-sparing diuretic. Some people should not use a substitute: advanced kidney disease; a potassium-sparing drug such as spironolactone, amiloride or eplerenone; or an ACE inhibitor or ARB with potassium already watched. In them it can push potassium high enough to disturb the heart rhythm. Check your kidney function and potassium first. If either is a concern, lower sodium by cooking from whole ingredients and keep to ordinary salt.
Very low sodium has its own downsides
At very low intakes, pooled trials show the body raising renin and aldosterone, with small rises in cholesterol and triglycerides, and population studies find worse outcomes at both extremes. The gains come from bringing a high intake down to a moderate one; below that, the benefit flattens.
If your fluid or salt balance is medically managed
People on diuretics, being treated for heart failure, or living with conditions that waste salt should change sodium alongside whoever manages that treatment. Their sodium, potassium and fluid are being balanced together. Endurance athletes and people who sweat heavily in heat lose considerable sodium and should account for that before restricting.
When to bring in a practitioner
If you have questions, or a condition that touches on blood pressure, kidneys or the heart, a licensed practitioner is worth a conversation.
Start slow, be smart, read the research, and consult a professional if you have any concerns. This is here to inform your choice, not make it for you.
Common Questions
Does eating less salt help if my blood pressure is already normal?
Yes, though less than if your pressure is high. In the same pooled trials, a modest cut lowered systolic pressure about 5.4 mmHg in people with high blood pressure, against about 2.4 mmHg in people without. The gap widens the higher your starting pressure.
Isn't very low salt supposed to be dangerous?
That signal comes from population studies, which follow people who chose their own diets. Those who eat very little salt often cut back because they are already ill, so the illness can drive the low intake. That reverse causation can make low sodium look harmful when it is not the cause.
Can I just take a potassium supplement instead of cutting sodium?
Potassium helps only up to a point. The balance between the two minerals matters more than the amount of either, and the DASH plate raises potassium alongside everything else it changes.
Past a moderate daily intake the extra benefit fades, and at high intakes pressure can edge back up.
How much sodium should I aim for?
Aim for 1.5 to 2 grams of sodium a day, roughly a teaspoon of salt or less. Below about 3 grams the outcome data get unreliable, so that range is a sound target.
Explore Related
Other pages this one connects to, by the evidence they share, the outcomes they touch, and the ground they cover.
All 13 sources on this page independently checked and cross-referenced.
Thomas Dehli, Founder & Editor, Sacred Lotus
Sacred Lotus has published Chinese medicine reference material since 2001. Integrative pages are held to the same standard as the herb and formula library: cite the source, grade the claim at its real strength, and say where the research has not looked. This page is educational and it is not medical advice. Last reviewed and updated August 9, 2026.
Evidence strength
How confidently the research supports a claim. Strength describes the evidence, not our endorsement.