By Nicole Chiu - Contributing Health Journalist

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have discovered a link between use of diuretics for blood pressure control and drops of potassium levels in the blood, which leads to risks of developing type II diabetes.

Diuretics accelerate the loss of fluids in the body, yet also causes the body to lose much of its retention of natural chemicals such as potassium. This is why many patients taking diuretics have been advised to eat bananas and other potassium-rich foods to counteract such effects.

Now a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins have published evidence of how these factors all relate to each other, and what can be done as preventative measures.

The study led by Tariq Shafi, MD, MHS, of the Department of Nephrology at Johns Hopkins was based on previous research, which indicated patients taking diuretics incurred a 50 percent risk of obtaining type II diabetes.

Shafi’s research now shows that with regular monitoring of potassium levels, and fast re-supplement of potassium into the body, patients may reduce their risks of developing type II diabetes.

“It could be as simple as increasing the consumption of potassium-rich foods like bananas and oranges and/or reducing salt intake, both of which will keep potassium from dropping,” said Shafi.

With appropriate physician monitoring of the potassium levels and regular intake of potassium-rich foods in their diet, Shafi says that patients could be saving themselves thousands of dollars each year in health expenses.

The researched conducted included 3,790 non-diabetic participants from the Systolic Hypertension in Elderly Program (SHEP), which is a randomized clinical trial designed to determine the risk versus benefit of high blood pressure medications to persons over 60 years of age. (The SHEP program was conducted between 1985 and 1991.)

With these participants, Shafi and the rest of the research team treated half the subjects with chlorthalidone and half with a fake drug. None of the participants had a history with diabetes, and potassium levels were initially monitored as a safety precaution against irregular heartbeats.

Shafi’s research is now published in the December issue of Hypertension, and reveals that there was a 45 percent increased risk of developing diabetes for patients with each 0.5 milliequivalent per liter (MEq/L) decrease in serum potassium.

The other half of participants who received the fake drug had no significant decreases in potassium levels.

Shafi said that physicians normally check potassium levels after six weeks of initial diuretic treatment, only for the purposes of detecting heart failure. This six-week period may be too long, as the levels could have dropped significantly in their potential to affect the patient’s risk of developing diabetes.

Shafi now urges that patients taking diuretics should have their potassium levels checked regularly, and also increase potassium-rich foods in their diet.