Dr. Li Yang is the second recipient of the John McKay Fellowship award.
For more information about Dr. Yang, please see her resume (download pdf)
Project:
“How do dietary sodium and potassium regulate blood pressure?”
Funded from November, 2008 – June, 2009
Project Summary:
Changing the dietary ratio of potassium to salt has a beneficial effect on hypertension (which affects 1 in 3), chronic kidney disease (which affects 1 in 8), and metabolic syndrome (affecting 1 in 4). Dr. Yang, who is an expert in cell biology as well as animal physiology, is researching the mechanisms that cause these benefits through studies with laboratory rats.
Other studies that have been performed in this area focus on the effects of completely removing potassium from the diet or the effects of raising sodium to very high levels. Few studies examine the ratio between potassium and sodium. Almost no studies were found that compare a typical Western diet with an optimal diet recommended by the American Heart Association.
The central goal of Dr. Yang’s research is to rigorously investigate various diets which contain sodium and potassium and their effects upon blood pressure, renal disease, and metabolic syndrome.
Dr. Yang believes that these studies will provide a factual analysis of the benefits of one diet over another and will set a standard for other nutrients. Ideally, the results will provoke the public to demand healthier diets, since for example, a change to healthier salts has the potential to reverse these epidemic disease trends and help people live longer with less health costs.