Potassium Chloride as replacement for salt? (sodium chloride)

[amaru7]

Hi,

I have read about the importance of potassium as a mineral and find it really hard to achieve even the RDA, which usually is set pretty low as we all know. Eating bananas is not an everyday solution, because of the sugar/fructose.

So I have heard that potassium chloride tastes like salt and can be used as a substitute, would that be a good route to get enough potassium? Maybe mix it with sea salt in some ratio to get the benefits of both ?

 

[Mary]

@amaru7 - I've never tried potassium chloride, but I've found low-sodium V8 or low-sodium vegetable juice to be a good way of getting potassium. It's low in sugar and calories and high in potassium.

I also take potassium gluconate capsules in 4 divided doses (800 - 1000 mg a day). We're all different, and we all have different requirements for potassium so you'll have to find what works for you.

For what it's worth, people with ME/CFS can have normal potassium on blood work but low intracellular potassium . This thread explains why: http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...ded-in-methylation-treatmt.18670/#post-291422

Low potassium for me causes often severe fatigue (different than PEM) and muscle twitches or cramps in my feet and lower legs. Other people can get cardiac issues - arrhythmia or palpitations, it can raise BP too.

 

[Runner5]

I use Himalayan Pink, Sea Salt Reduced Sodium, it's 50% potassium.

I put this stuff into water to replace electrolytes, seems to work okay-ish. I was still a little low on potassium my last blood work up. I have a kidney issue which washes out electrolytes though. (edit: I also eat sea-salt on my food)

Additionally, I drink Coconut Water. If nothing else you might just drink a case of Zico and see if it helps If you just need electrolytes my favourite blend is from Vega. Some of the other plain ones taste a little weird but I do carry those with me (tablets and drop), I think the brand name on that is Hilyte .

(edit: I seem to struggle most with low magnesium)

 

[Carl]

From what I have seen. potassium chloride is often used in low sodium salt. I do not think that any chlorides are helpful because of their effect on iodine usage in the body. Chlorides, bromine and fluoride are halides which can prevent iodine usage by the body, they displace iodine due to them having a lower atomic weight than iodine.

It is only the potassium that you want and not the chloride because I do not think that chlorides are helpful ie mostly harmful IMO.
Potassium bicarb is an option. There is a thread on this forum that says that Sodium Bicarb is helpful for autoimmune illness but I do not know whether Potassium bicarb has a similar effect. Potassium bicarb is alkaline and I sometimes use it to neutralise acidity and supply potassium.

BTW I eat quite a few Bananas myself and I purchase around 10Kg at a time and prefer them more unripe ie with as few black skin markings as possible with yellow skin. They keep fairly well in the fridge but the skin can become dark but the inside is much slower to become overripe. It is the gas that they give off which causes them to ripen so keeping them separate helps lessen early over ripening. When the skin is green they contain resistant starch which works like a prebiotic to benefit the colon flora.
Foods Highest in Potassium per 100 grams
Cream of Tartar is very high in Potassium and little else unlike Low Sodium Baking powder which has calcium and phosphorus which could cause too much phosphorus.
It might be worth trying some cream of tartar maybe from a food seller or wine making store and find out if you can use it as a source of potassium. But it is acidic so I would not get it near to your teeth. If you have a urease infection of your stomach the acidity will cause more ammonia production. Potassium bicarb is probably the better option IMO.

 

[percyval577]

Potassium is a difficult issue to meassure, if I am remembering right, because it is inside the cells, for the purpose of coming out as a counterreaction, as it is positive charged and sodium and calcium are activily coming in, both positive charged as well.

Once I tried low sodium and calcium for the purpose to reduce the income into the nerves, but it was no good at all. My brain lost even more structure under the hair after one day, it felt even more moose-like.

--> On the chloride component and a danger with HCO3(-):
I had though one good experience with magnesium chloride, with the negative charged chloride coming into the cell and decreasing the positive charge and therefore decreasing action potential this way. And it worked for three days very very well, I´ve cleaned my flat like a derwish, without any considerable rest. After this rather necessary clean up it never came back like so.

I figured out that the chloride needs hydrogen carbonate HCO3(-), which is found in mineralwater or vitamine effervescent tablets. Otherwise the chloride will not go into the brain quickly enough. So care is needed: if you take to much (in order of such an intention or by any accident) it makes "woosh" in the brain.
--> I hadn´t got any potassium chloride, but the chloride effect (with negativ charge) should be nearly the same, lacking the quick sodium effect (with positive charge).

(I made a salt water with 33g MgCl in 1l then. Two or three drops added to VitC effervescent tablets are still somehow comfortable, after 18 months (its not the magnesium, which is nice, too, nevertheless.). So, I don´t agree with Carl, in respect of nerves.)

 

[datadragon]

What I use for potassium, RDA is 4,700 and why everyone is having problems.
Blackstrap Molasses 600 mg 1 tablespoon
Bananna 400 mg
Dr Berg electrolyte powder 1000 per full scoop
Adrenal Cocktail:: Use 3 oz Orange Juice, 3 oz Coconut Water, 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar (at whole foods), 1/4 tsp himalayan sea salt. Around 500 mg per 8 oz.
Potassium Chloride or Potasssium Citrate pills usually 99 each
Pure Planet Sports Salts - Potassium Bicarbonate is around 45% potassium, so around 345 potassium for 2 caps and 444 himalayan salt. Likely needs Betaine HCL to properly digest bicarbonate, most dont have enough stomach acid.

Chloride is extremely important to move sodium/potassium in and out of the cell. Magnesium is required to make the ATP to power the process.
http://www.mgwater.com/dur09.shtml
The Na-K-Cl cotransport system moves sodium, potassium and chloride ions across the cell membrane. Movement is electroneutral: the number of chloride ions moved equals the sum of the number of sodium and potassium ions. In most cells, the ratio of ions moved is 1Na:1K:2Cl. This system is activated by cell shrinkage and is important in regulating cell volume and potassium content. K-Cl cotransport is the electroneutral movement of one K+ ion with one Cl- ion across the cell membrane.
You need Magnesium, Potassium, as well as sodium, chloride, and calcium.

 

[datadragon]

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TQXeocqXFwcJ:https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/Potassium_and_sodium_out_of_balance+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
In healthy individuals, the kidneys respond to excess sodium by flushing it out in the urine. Unfortunately, this also removes potassium. If potassium levels are low, the body tries to hoard the potassium, which also means hanging onto sodium. Water follows sodium, leading to an increase in the amount of water in the body and the volume of blood in circulation. Blood pressure climbs, and the heart must work harder. Excess sodium blunts the ability of blood vessels to relax and contract with ease, and may also overstimulate the growth of heart tissue. All of these responses are made worse by low potassium intake.

http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/2011/02/t...-and-the-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis/
Cortisol’s role in ion regulation, particularly regarding sodium and potassium, has also been widely studied. Cortisol prevents cells from losing sodium and accelerates the rate of potassium excretion. This helps regulates bodily pH, bringing it back into equilibrium after a destabilizing event. Cortisol’s ability to regulate the action of cellular sodium-potassium pumps has even led to speculation that it originally evolved as a sodium transporter

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:AW38gsGff80J:www.resultsrna.com/pdf/journal/issue_4/treat_magnesium_deficiency_by_removing_mercury.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1317120
Mercury blocks Na-K-ATP, it competes with Magnesium. If you have eaten seafood, you will likely have mercury and need extra mag.

 

[robinhood12345]

I took it mixed in my daily drink bottle for a while. It tastes bad. Another form is potassium bicarbonate which does not taste as bad. Or look up potassium rich foods on nutritiondata.