Background: Dietary high salt or low potassium is always associated with an increased incidence of death or cardiovascular complications, but the mechanisms remain elusive. We hypothesize that haemostatic abnormalities may play an important role in the phenomenon.
Methods: Twenty normotensive subjects (aged 25 to 50 years) were selected from a rural community of Northern China. All of the people were sequentially maintained on a 3-day baseline investigation, 7 days on a low-salt diet (51.3 mmol or 3 g of NaCI per day), 7 days on a high-salt diet (307.7 mmol or 18 g of NaCl per day), and another 7 days on a high-salt diet with potassium supplementation (4.5 g/day, KCI). The concentrations of fibrinogen, D-dimer and von Willebrand factor (vWF) in plasma were assessed, and these data represent the systemic haemostatic state.
Results: Plasma levels of fibrinogen, fibrin D-dimer and vWF were significantly higher in the high-salt diet than in the low-salt diet (P < 0.05). In contrast, potassium supplement could convert the sodium-dependent haemostatic abnormalities to normal (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: Dietary high salt intake could stimulate the production of haemostatic factors, which may ultimately lead to cardiovascular events. Inversely, potassium supplementation could ameliorate the sodium-induced haemostatic abnormalities.