Potassium: How much supplemental potassium is safe and what form?

[TheMoonIsBlue]

I am confused about how much supplemental postassium is safe?

In pills, they are only 99mg and it always says don't take more than 1.


Confused about Potassium

 

[TheMoonIsBlue]

P.S. I posted this under the methylation and b12 section because I know potassium supplemenation is often used and discussed by people on the MethylB12 protocol.

 

[Calathea]

If you want to read up about the dangers of excessive potassium, look up hyperkalemia. It can certainly be highly dangerous if you have too much. However, the level in pills is oddly low. The RDA for potassium is around 3500mg, and supplements aren't allowed more than 99mg. 99mg really isn't going to do much for you. You can get way more than that by simply using some low-sodium or no-sodium salt. On the other hand, a nurse friend of mine says that those low-sodium salts can be quite dangerous, because if people switch to them but continue to use a lot of salt (thinking that all they need to do is switch over, rather than reduce the quantity too), then they can accidentally overdose on potassium. Spreading it over the day seems to be important. I aim for 3500mg total from my food and supplements, and I supplement by using a home-made electrolyte drink which uses low-sodium salt for the potassium and sodium.

 

[TheMoonIsBlue]

Yes, that I why I am confused why the pills are so low (99mg) but these Medical foods I listed have about 750 mg in two scoops, and for food elimination I think they recommend 2 scoops twice a day. That is much much more supplemental potassium but if it was dangerous I doubt that a highly reputable company such as Metagenics would be selling these and they are so often recommened by integrative docs for elimination diets?

I actually felt a little bit better overall after using the first product for a month, less burdened G.I.. system

There are lot of other products like two listed, by other companies, "medical food" type vegetable protein supplements for elimination diets, which contain atleast 400 mg of potassium in one serving...

Hyperkalemia symptoms also sound like the symptoms of too little potassium! and also ME/CFS in general...or other nutritional deficiencies....how the heck do you distinguish what is what without blood tests?

 

[adreno]

I take 5000-10000mg of potassium daily, and don't get hyperkalemia.

 

[Freddd]

Hmm....why can't a person edit their post more than once??

Normaly can be edited for a week or so. Sometimes it does't work but i suspect a bug.

 

[Freddd]

Just in general I'm seeing people need typically 2000-3000mg daily just to hold their own when healing turns on to prevent symptoms. It might take even more for optimum. I find that there are two steps, one to correct the problems and somewhat more to feel "energized"

 

[richvank]

Hi, all.

As far as I can tell, the reason why the FDA has limited the dosage of over-the-counter potassium supplements to less than 100 mg per pill is to prevent damage to the digestive tract when too much potassium is concentrated at one place.
As has been noted, the daily requirement for potassium is much higher than this, and the Institute of Medicine has not assigned an upper limit for potassium supplementation. When potassium is distributed, such as in food or in a solution, this problem of concentrating at one place does not occur.

The main problems with going too high on potassium intake are due to high levels in the blood (hyperkalemia) which can occur in people who do not have normal kidney function, so that they are not able to excrete the excess.

One concern I would have in ME/CFS is that two studies have shown that aldosterone is low in this disorder. Normally, aldosterone acts to increase potassium excretion into the urine when it gets too high in the blood, so low aldosterone may allow the potassium concentration to rise in the blood in ME/CFS. I think it would be wise to check it periodically if potassium is being supplemented at relatively high dosages.

Best regards,

Rich

 

[adreno]

One concern I would have in ME/CFS is that two studies have shown that aldosterone is low in this disorder. Normally, aldosterone acts to increase potassium excretion into the urine when it gets too high in the blood, so low aldosterone may allow the potassium concentration to rise in the blood in ME/CFS. I think it would be wise to check it periodically if potassium is being supplemented at relatively high dosages.

Best regards,

Rich

Ok, but I want to add that potassium raises aldosterone. I believe this is why potassium is very helpful for my POTS.

I have felt some symptoms of hyperkalemia if I have taken a very concentrated dose (such as 3 grams within an hour), but when I space my intake to about 300-600mg per hour, with lots of water and sodium, it goes down fine. I have been on this dose for several months, and every time I try to reduce the dose, I get hypokalemic again. I take powdered potassium citrate. I don't know why I need so much potassium. On a normal day, about 5 grams are usually enough, but if I exercise my need increases to 8-10 grams. It seems extreme, not sure if this means I'm producing lots of new cells (can this go on for months?), or something else is wrong?

 

[place]

yes... why is that? I think when I drank dasani, I felt good due to the potassium. Is this a potassium deficency?

 

[Freddd]

I am confused about how much supplemental postassium is safe?

In pills, they are only 99mg and it always says don't take more than 1.


Confused about Potassium

Hi TheMoonIsBlue,

Potassium has a long history. The main reason I can find for limiting the supps to 99mg is tjhat large potassium chloride tablets that don't dissolve intantly can cause a potent acid to eat away at the stomach wallas killing the tissue. That is the same warning the time release potassium chloride gets now. As a powder or small content quicjkly diossolving tablet that doesn't haapen. It had nothing to do with 200mg being dangerous except as a solid pill. The Potassium gluconate in small dose high dilution pills doesn't cause the same problems for instance.

 

[hek]

this is what i do for my daily intake of the minimum for poatssium; choco shake is a protein premier 30 g, oatmeal is the avena, papa = potato (baked) bar quest is the brownie flavor from such company. i try to keep the sugar low and carbs as well, but this is a great guide i found to help me out with my potassium daily of minimum intake hope and this helps

 

[Sasha]

Hi TheMoonIsBlue,

Potassium has a long history. The main reason I can find for limiting the supps to 99mg is tjhat large potassium chloride tablets that don't dissolve intantly can cause a potent acid to eat away at the stomach wallas killing the tissue. That is the same warning the time release potassium chloride gets now. As a powder or small content quicjkly diossolving tablet that doesn't haapen. It had nothing to do with 200mg being dangerous except as a solid pill. The Potassium gluconate in small dose high dilution pills doesn't cause the same problems for instance.

Interesting - I have a tablet-swallowing phobia and this time around have had to crunch up my potassium tablets. I haven't had stomach problems (like I did a bit the last time). I eat the tablets with food - if I have them with something salty I can't even taste them.