Potassium is a mineral that your body needs to work properly. It is a type of electrolyte. It helps your nerves to function and muscles to contract. It helps your heartbeat stay regular. It also helps move nutrients into cells and waste products out of cells. A diet rich in potassium helps to offset some of sodium's harmful effects on blood pressure.

Many people get all the potassium they need from what they eat and drink. Sources of potassium in the diet include:

• Leafy greens, such as spinach and collards
• Fruit from vines, such as grapes and blackberries
• Root vegetables, such as carrots and potatoes
• Citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruit

Your kidneys help to keep the right amount of potassium in your body. If you have chronic kidney disease, your kidneys may not remove extra potassium from the blood. Some medicines also can raise your potassium level. You may need a special diet to lower the amount of potassium that you eat.

Potassium is a mineral found in many foods. Your body needs potassium for almost everything it does, including proper kidney and heart function, muscle contraction, and nerve transmission.

Potassium is a nutrient that everyone needs to stay healthy. It’s important for almost everything your body does, including proper kidney and heart function, muscle contraction, and nerve transmission.

Most adults should get 4,700 mg of potassium a day, but many people don’t get enough. Potassium is found in many fruits (such as dried apricots, oranges, and bananas), vegetables (such as acorn squash, potatoes, and spinach), legumes (such as kidney beans and soybeans), nuts, milk, yogurt, meats, poultry, and fish. Many salt substitutes that are used to replace table salt also contain potassium. Most dietary supplements have only small amounts of potassium.

Getting too much potassium from food or beverages does not cause problems in healthy people. However, if you have chronic kidney disease or use certain medications, the potassium you get from your diet could cause your blood levels of potassium to get too high. High levels of potassium in your blood can cause muscle weakness, paralysis, and heart problems that could be fatal. For these reasons, it’s important to talk with your healthcare provider for advice about potassium.

I know bananas contain potassium. Can I get enough potassium by eating a banana every day?

Bananas do have a lot of potassium compared to many other foods but eating one banana a day won’t meet your potassium needs alone. A medium banana has about 420 mg of potassium, so you would have to eat more than 11 bananas to meet the 4,700 mg that most adults should get each day. Obviously, that’s not the best approach. Instead, eat a variety of nutritious foods that contain potassium to ensure you get enough of this important nutrient.

I can’t find a potassium supplement that provides very much potassium. Why?

Most dietary supplements contain less than 100 mg of potassium, which is only about 2% of the recommended intake. This is partly because of reports that some potassium-containing medications may damage the gastrointestinal tract. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not limit the amount of potassium in dietary supplements, they do require warning labels on some medications that contain 100 mg of potassium or more.

Because of the small amounts of potassium in dietary supplements, you can’t rely on them to help meet your potassium needs. This underscores the importance of getting potassium by consuming a nutritious variety of foods and beverages.

Can potassium help lower my blood pressure?

Yes, it might. People with low intakes of potassium have an increased risk of high blood pressure, especially if they consume a lot of sodium (salt). Therefore, increasing your potassium intake, along with decreasing sodium intake, might help lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of stroke. One way to do this is to follow an eating plan called DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), which emphasizes potassium from fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products. Also, using potassium-containing salt substitutes in place of regular salt helps lower blood pressure. But it’s not clear whether this is because of the increased potassium, reduced sodium, or both.

The amount of potassium you need each day depends on your age and sex. Average daily recommended amounts are listed below in milligrams (mg).

Potassium is found in many foods. You can get recommended amounts of potassium by eating a variety of foods, including the following:

• Fruits, such as dried apricots, prunes, raisins, orange juice, and bananas
• Vegetables, such as acorn squash, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, and broccoli
• Lentils, kidney beans, soybeans, and nuts
• Milk and yogurt
• Meats, poultry, and fish

Salt substitutes
Potassium is an ingredient in many salt substitutes that people use to replace table salt. If you have kidney disease or if you take certain medications, these products could make your potassium levels too high. Talk to your healthcare provider before using salt substitutes.

Potassium is found in many multivitamin/multimineral supplements and in supplements that contain only potassium. Potassium in supplements comes in many different forms— a common form is potassium chloride, but other forms used in supplements are potassium citrate, potassium phosphate, potassium aspartate, potassium bicarbonate, and potassium gluconate. Research has not shown that any form of potassium is better than the others. Most dietary supplements provide only small amounts of potassium, no more than 99 mg per serving.

The diets of many people in the United States provide less than recommended amounts of potassium. Even when food and dietary supplements are combined, total potassium intakes for most people are below recommended amounts.

Certain groups of people are more likely than others to have trouble getting enough potassium:

• People with inflammatory bowel disease (such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis)
• People who use certain medications (such as laxatives or some diuretics)
• People with pica (meaning that they eat things that aren’t food, such as clay)

Getting too little potassium can increase blood pressure, deplete calcium in bones, and increase the risk of kidney stones.

Prolonged diarrhea or vomiting, laxative abuse, diuretic use, eating clay, heavy sweating, dialysis, or using certain medications can cause severe potassium deficiency. In this condition, called hypokalemia, blood levels of potassium are very low. Symptoms of hypokalemia include constipation, tiredness, muscle weakness, and not feeling well. More severe hypokalemia can cause increased urination, decreased brain function, high blood sugar levels, muscle paralysis, difficulty breathing, and irregular heartbeat. Severe hypokalemia can be life threatening.

Scientists are studying potassium to understand how it affects health. Here are some examples of what this research has shown.

High blood pressure and stroke
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke. People with low intakes of potassium have an increased risk of developing high blood pressure, especially if their diet is high in salt (sodium). Increasing the amount of potassium in your diet and decreasing the amount of sodium might help lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of stroke.

Kidney stones
Getting too little potassium can deplete calcium from bones and increase the amount of calcium in urine. This calcium can form hard deposits (stones) in your kidneys, which can be very painful. Increasing the amount of potassium in your diet might reduce your risk of developing kidney stones.

Bone health
People who have high intakes of potassium from fruits and vegetables seem to have stronger bones. Eating more of these foods might improve your bone health by increasing bone mineral density (a measure of bone strength).

Blood sugar control and type 2 diabetes
Low intakes of potassium might increase blood sugar levels. Over time, this can increase the risk of developing insulin resistance and lead to type 2 diabetes. But more research is needed to fully understand whether potassium intakes affect blood sugar levels and the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Potassium is a mineral in your body that helps your nerves and muscles work.

A recent study provides early evidence that increased potassium may help prevent hardening of the arteries, which contributes to serious heart-related conditions.

Hardening of the arteries causes plaques of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances that reduce blood flow. This leads to serious conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

The new research provides a deeper understanding of how dietary potassium prevents hardening of the arteries. Beans, spinach, bananas, yogurt, and potatoes are good sources of potassium.

For most people, natural foods rich in potassium are safe and part of a healthy diet. But extra potassium may not be right for everyone. Certain people need to watch their potassium intake, such as those with kidney issues or taking certain medicines.

This study is one step towards better understanding potassium's beneficial effects in the body.

Potassium from food and beverages has not been shown to cause any harm in healthy people who have normal kidney function. Excess potassium is eliminated in the urine.

However, people who have chronic kidney disease and those who use certain medications can develop abnormally high levels of potassium in their blood (a condition called hyperkalemia). Examples of these medications are angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, also known as ACE inhibitors, and potassium-sparing diuretics. Hyperkalemia can occur in these people even when they consume typical amounts of potassium from food.

Hyperkalemia can also develop in people with type 1 diabetes, congestive heart failure, liver disease, or adrenal insufficiency. Adrenal insufficiency is a condition in which the adrenal glands, located just above the kidneys, don’t produce enough of certain hormones.

Even in healthy people, getting too much potassium from supplements or salt substitutes can cause hyperkalemia if they consume so much potassium that their bodies can’t eliminate the excess.

People at risk of hyperkalemia should talk to their healthcare providers about how much potassium they can safely get from food, beverages, and supplements. The National Kidney Disease Education Program has information about food choices that can help lower potassium levels.

Yes, some medications may interact with potassium. Here are a few examples:

ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs)
ACE inhibitors, such as benazepril (Lotensin®), and ARBs, such as losartan (Cozaar®), are used to treat high blood pressure, heart disease, and kidney disease. They decrease the amount of potassium lost in the urine and can make potassium levels too high, especially in people who have kidney problems.

Potassium-sparing diuretics
Potassium-sparing diuretics, such as amiloride (Midamor®) and spironolactone (Aldactone®), are used to treat high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. These medications decrease the amount of potassium lost in the urine and can make potassium levels too high, especially in people who have kidney problems.

Loop and thiazide diuretics
Loop diuretics, such as furosemide (Lasix®) and bumetanide (Bumex®), and thiazide diuretics, such as chlorothiazide (Diuril®) and metolazone (Zaroxolyn®), are used to treat high blood pressure and edema. These medications increase the amount of potassium lost in the urine and can cause abnormally low levels of potassium.

Tell your doctor, pharmacist, and other healthcare providers about any dietary supplements and prescription or over-the-counter medicines you take. They can tell you if the dietary supplements might interact with your medicines or if the medicines might interfere with how your body absorbs, uses, or breaks down nutrients, such as potassium.