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It's certainly true that most people are deficient in potassium. The daily recommended dose for males is over 3 grams per day![1] To make matters worse, the FD
by whytai 3y ago
It's certainly true that most people are deficient in potassium. The daily recommended dose for males is over 3 grams per day![1]
To make matters worse, the FDA limits the amount of potassium that can be present in supplements to 100mg[2]. So good luck taking 30 supplements to meet your daily requirements!
One option Id like to advertise is salt alternatives at grocery stores which are filled with potassium, some with at least 800mg per tsp. This can be another way to supplement potassium and magnesium in the diet [2]
[1] https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Potassium-HealthProfessional/ https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Potassium-HealthProfession...
[2] https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/should-i-take-a-potassium-supplement https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/should-i-take...
- tomcam 3y agoNo one never explains how to get 3000 mg of potassium a day and potassium is usually a very small part of multivitamin supplements. It makes me slightly skeptical of that number.
- kylecazar 3y agoIt's in a surprising amount of foods, people usually think bananas but it's in many fruits/vegetables, chicken, fish, in pretty high quantities
- DesertVarnish 3y agoIt depends on what you eat. A person eating a lot of tomatoes, legumes, potatoes, and squash would hit it pretty easily, which is common for a lot of traditional diets (south asia, some parts of latin america, etc).
- tomcam 3y agoThank you. I wasn’t able to come up with the right mix but other posts along with yours are telling me I should re-double my research.
- ska 3y agoYou are supposed to get it through eating a varied diet including potassium rich foods every day, typically. This is part of the "5 servings per day" idea for fresh fruits and vegetables. For example a banana and a cup of cooked spinach get you nearly 1/2 way there in 2 servings.
- tomcam 3y agoOK I clearly need to repeat my research. This gives me hope, thanks!
- pkaye 3y agoPotassium is in a lot of foods. I know this very well because I spend many years on dialysis due to kidney failure and had to do a lot of diet tracking so I didn't consume too much potassium or phosphorus because the kidneys are important in removing excess amounts. Most meats, vegetables and fruits, nuts legumes all have potassium of a varying amount. Also the USDA maintains a database of complete nutrition of many common foods. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/ https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/
- francisofascii 3y agoFor fun, I asked Chat GPT to come up with a daily diet to hit the DRV number. It had a banana, potatoes, chicken, salmon, black beans, spinach, broccoli, an avacado, and a few other things. So it is "doable".
- modeless 3y agoDoes it satisfy all other dietary recommendations though? I saw some people saying that it's actually impossible to satisfy the potassium value simultaneously with all the other dietary recommendations, using natural food.
- vixen99 3y agoI wouldn't be. A lot of people have worked hard on these numbers over the years. I'm guessing the limitation on supplements assumes a good diet (no shortage of advice from USDA on 'good' and potassium sources) which typically provides the recommended intake. However there can of course be days that's not possible.
- slashdev 3y agoI used to supplement with potassium salt powder. A teaspoon was like 5000-10000mg if I’m remembering right. I was very uncomfortable having it in the house, I think a couple tablespoons would likely stop the heart of an adult. I think it’d be very unpleasant to consume that much, but I didn’t test the theory. I left a 1/8 tsp permanently in the bottle so there can be no mistake about what does to use.
- hinkley 3y agoPotassium chloride is what they use to stop mammal hearts in euthenasia/capital punishment. I think the FDA might have some reasons to prefer potassium be spread out across meals instead of taken in a lump sum all at once (think also, children eating vitamins as candy. I know someone who almost died of iron poisoning as a child before they made the pills bitter)
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y agoThat’s intravenous KCL. Significantly different absorption than taking it orally. Wikipedia is showing a roughly 100x difference in the LD50 of oral vs intravenous. If you tried to ingest a lethal dose of KCL, I would put huge odds on you first retching out you guts. ~190 grams orally to hit the LD50
- Eric_WVGG 3y agoI participated in a "crank science" study, where a bunch of us took salt alternative daily to see if the added potassium explained the success of the so-called "potato diet". Salt alternatives taste like sipping a freshly blended nine volt battery. My big contribution to the project was discovering that the stuff is mostly tolerable when dissolved in cranberry juice. https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2022/12/20/people-took-some-potassium-and-lost-some-weight/ https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2022/12/20/people-took-some-po...
- arcanemachiner 3y agoI mix potassium-based salt alternative into my food and I barely notice it. Fun fact: The potassium salt is mildly radioactive: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph241/gilpin1/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph241/gilpin1/
- philipkglass 3y agoYou can also buy potassium chloride water softener pellets. On the Lowe's site I currently see a 40 pound sack for $40. I used to grind them up in a coffee maker for making my own custom lower-sodium salt blend for cooking.
- foobarian 3y agoThe potassium salt tastes disgusting (try a pinch!). That is my main blocker for having more of it via this route.
- tomjakubowski 3y ago> To make matters worse, the FDA limits the amount of potassium that can be present in supplements to 100mg[2]. So good luck taking 30 supplements to meet your daily requirements! You don't need nearly 30 pills, even with a poor diet. Almost all foods, even junk foods, have some amount of potassium. Per 100g (3.5oz), a random sampling from my typical snacks, lunches and breakfasts: chicken breast 223mg cooked white rice 35mg cooked pasta 24mg 1 large egg 69mg whole milk 132mg apple 107mg bagel 165mg almonds 705mg banana 358mg Miss Vickie's Sea Salt & Vinegar Flavored Potato Chips 1260mg Potato chips are high in potassium and have a close to ideal 2:1 ratio of potassium to sodium. Superfood!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- SirMaster 3y agoLol why potato chips? Why not just potatoes? I eat potatoes most days, usually just boiled, sometimes baked to help get more potassium.