The potassium/sodium balance is identified as an important driver of high blood pressure. This is what I believe underlies recommendations to consume fresh fruit and veg to help high bp. The only issue is that with busy lives etc it is sometimes difficult to keep up with the 5/day recommendation. I read that most people fail to consume their RDA of potassium.
I have recently started eating a gram of potassium chloride dissolved in water with every meal.
I feel it is working to reduce my bp, which has reduced from high (c.150 sys) below 130.
There is not much out there in terms of medical guidance on such an approach- emphasis v. much on fresh fruit/veg instead. What do people think - am I onto a good thing or exposing myself to excessive risk?
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Jatropha
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I do agree with you about the importance of potassium in relation to dealing with high blood pressure. I have only started researching this fact and what I have found out is that there are some foods that are high in potassium like avocados, beans, Swiss chard, rocket....., Overall the emphasis is low salt intake and overall healthy eating and exercise. Would be keen to hear what other people have found
That's an awful lot of potassium you're taking in a day, effectively a huge overdose; adequate intakes for women over 19 are 2,300 mg (miligrams) and 3,400 mg. for men daily, see here hsph.harvard.edu/nutritions... for guidance. Note the figures quoted for average daily intake refer to America, which likely means the population of other countries may generally have a higher average intake.
Potassium is next to impossible to avoid in an average diet because it is in practically everything we eat, from fish, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, nuts, pulses, beans, vegetables including leafy greens, squash, potatoes to name a few, as well as fruits, from dried fruit such as dates, sultanas through to fresh fruits like berries, apples, oranges, all of them in fact. It is true that some foods, such as certain fresh fruits and leafy greens, do have a higher leveI of potassium,but eating a few fresh veg and fruit is a good idea anyway because they also contain things like bioflavinoids, vitamins and other phyto nutrients that the body needs, apart from potassium. I know about potassium because I am on a medication which increases potassium in the blood, so I have to restrict my consumption of things like blueberries (which I love) and tomatoes to a small handful a day. Even if a person eats only refined processed foods and nothing whole or fresh, I can't see how a lack of potassium can be an extreme issue in and of itself, and certainly not to the point of needing 3 grams a day as a supplement. The real problem is usually far too much sodium in the diet, which disturbs the essential potassium/sodium balance - refined,processed foods usually contain high levels of sodium/salt. I would be concerned that you are taking so much potassium a day without it being medically prescribed, and without blood tests to determine your potassium levels - far safer to look closely at your salt intake and reduce that instead. Or reduce significantly the amount of potassium supplement you take as well as reducing salt.
I remember the first time I looked at the DASH diet - I was utterly astonished that it said 'no more than SIX servings a day of meat, poultry or fish', in fact,even now I wonder if its a mistake or error in printing. I mean who on earth eats even three of those in a single day, never mind up to six... my animal protein intake is generally one, maybe two items about every 2 or 3 days, unless its Christmas... but then I don't live in the US, maybe there, more than six portions of meat poultry or fish in a single day is common.
When you say a quarter pounder, I assume you mean a burger? Which I might eat a couple of times a year (and never a McDs).... I don't eat very many processed foods such as ready meals and burgers in a year, nor added salt either, can't bear it, the main use for salt in my house is to make a mouthwash with occasionally, but my weight is fine, blood sugar fine and my BP reasonable. Still staggered at the idea of that amount of meat, fish or poultry, even if it was 'only' five 3oz portions in a day, seems extraordinary to me.
Check his profile - there are claims there, but no actual qualifications or links to research papers he's written, peer reviewed or otherwise. The DASH diet, I suspect, has been largely created for the American market, since most people in the UK wouldn't be eating meat, fish or chicken 6 or more times a day anyway. Plus the reference to sodium as Na, though correct, would never be used in dietary terms in the UK, nor would K be used for potassium, other than in scientific papers, its certainly not user friendly. It would be used in gardening products (as in NPK in fertilisers) but not dietary...
I don't know why you think you are still waiting - I posted a response to your request for this info in this thread 17 days ago. Here it is again uaex.uada.edu/counties/mill...
Magnesium is the mineral that works as the atp switch in each cell to drive potassium into the cell and make sodium leave it…people with swollen limbs often have sodium trapped in the cells….taking lots of potassium may help short term but it increases in the blood serum if there is not enough magnesium in your diet….which then causes tiredness and sluggishness.It is less dangerous to try using more magnesium than self medicating with potassium…try to eat more greens which have the correct ratio of minerals…because ratio is important….
But remember…the body was designed to create energy in the mitochondria between exchanging potassium for sodium…by using a third party.(a referee) magnesium…otherwise one would try to become the dominant ….balance is key.
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