Very high sodium Diet Shows Promising Results for Treatment of POTS: Study

In this crossover study, researchers included a total of 27 participants, among which 14 were POTS patients and 13 were healthy control subjects (HC). They received LS (10 mEq sodium/day) or HS (300 mEq sodium/day) diet for 6 days. The researchers measured the supine and standing heart rate, blood pressure, serum aldosterone, plasma renin activity, blood volume, and plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine.

Key findings of the study were:

• Upon analysis, the researchers found that the HS diet reduced upright heart rate and Δ heart rate compared with the LS diet in POTS patients.
• They also found that total blood volume and PV increased, and standing norepinephrine decreased with the HS compared with the LS diet.
• However, they noted that compared with healthy controls, patients with POTS had higher upright heart rates, greater change in heart rate (from supine to standing), and higher upright plasma norepinephrine, despite no statistically significant difference in overall plasma volume.

The authors concluded, "In POTS patients, high dietary sodium intake compared with low dietary sodium intake increases plasma volume, lowers standing plasma norepinephrine, and decreases Δ heart rate."

For further information:

https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2021.03.005