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Urine Test May ID Unhealthy Diets
Low potassium level indicates poor nutrition, study finds
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
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THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- Someday, a doctor's office assessment of the overall quality of your diet may come from a simple $8 urine test, researchers report.
Levels of urinary potassium correlate closely with nutrition in general, said study author Dr. Alexander Logan, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.
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"We can identify people who are eating a poor quality diet by a simple urine test and can recommend an intervention," said Logan, who is also senior scientist at the university's Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute.
Simply questioning people about their diet isn't as foolproof, he added. "One can get a general idea of [intake of] fruits, vegetables and dairy by asking," he said. But self-reports are notoriously inaccurate. So, Logan's team evaluated 24-hour urine samples from 220 people, aged 18 to 50, all diagnosed with kidney stones.
The participants answered food questionnaires about their food intake and had their weight, height and blood pressure measured.
Logan's team then looked to see if urinary potassium and sodium levels could correlate to diet quality.
They found that the higher the potassium level in urine, the higher the intake of recommended healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products.
The lower the potassium, the more likely the food reports were to include more red meat, fast food and sugary, high-calorie drinks.
Those with the highest levels of urinary potassium also tended to have a lower body mass index (BMI), lower diastolic blood pressure and a lower heart rate than did those with lower levels. For instance, people with the highest potassium levels averaged a BMI of 26.5 (under 25 is desirable), while those with the lowest potassium levels had an average BMI of 28.7 (a BMI of 30 is the accepted threshold for obesity).
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Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 3/26/2009
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SOURCES: Alexander Logan, M.D., professor, medicine, University of Toronto, and senior scientist, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, University of Toronto; Judith Stern, Sc.D., distinguished professor, nutrition, University of California at Davis; Jeannie Gazzaniga-Moloo, Ph.D., R.D., dietitian, Roseville, Calif., and spokeswoman, American Dietetic Association; April 2009 The Journal of Nutrition
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