I also did not know that 1 banana a day is not enough potassium, you should eat more than that! I eat a banana almost everyday and always thought that covered my potassium. I am now trying to eat more leafy greens that are also a good source of potassium.
Potassium chloride is cheaper, but it has the very undesirable effect of introducing in the body an excessive amount of chloride. Chloride is required in an amount very close to the amount of sodium and preferably somewhat less than sodium, while taking potassium chloride will ensure much more chloride than sodium (because the table salt already provides as much chloride as sodium), which will stress the kidneys, because they will need to restore the ionic balance.
It is preferable to also add in the water with potassium citrate a smaller quantity of a water-soluble magnesium supplement, e.g. pure magnesium bisglycinate powder (magnesium citrate is insoluble in water, so it is not useful).
That's good to do, but by far the #1 thing for high blood pressure is exercise. A consistent schedule of intense cardio is probably the best single thing you can do for your health in general, and definitely for hypertension.
0. https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2024/08/23/crazy-but-like...
No difference in my BP. So Fuck all that running nonsense. Granted, n=1.
Easy, effective, and saves lives
https://www.adityabirlacapital.com/healthinsurance/active-to...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/this-...
Typically sport drinks have carbs, salt, potassium chloride, and magnesium. Mineral waters have salts, potassium and magnesium. You can buy potassium chloride, and magnesium citrate powder and leave sugars and salts out or reduce them. I haven't looked, but there might be already products that suit you.
Eating even very large quantities will have little effects. They may cause diarrhea, but there is no chance of death.
At age 38 I was diagnosed with very high blood pressure. I had not been going to a doctor and was having headaches and bloody noses so it might have been going on for years. The first drug they put me on was a diuretic. They also put me on potassium after low potassium levels which is common with a diuretic.
Eventually, they also put me on a beta-blocker, a calcium channel blocker, and an ACE inhibitor. So I was getting all four BP meds and ended up at high or maximum doses. Around age 50 my potassium levels were getting very low and they kept increasing my potassium to no effect.
Primary care and cardiologist were flummoxed so they sent me for a kidney MRI. The radiologist looked at my history and decided to also check the adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys so that was his call.
Turns out I had primary hyperaldosteronism which causes low potassium and high blood pressure. Not clear if it was the cause all along because I'm not sure I had my potassium checked before starting the diuretic. I saw a very good endocrinologist who had tests done to confirm the MRI and make sure that they removed the correct adrenal gland and then I eventually went down to a low dose of only one BP med.
I asked a doctor what is the cause of my high BP. He replied "either spend money on finding the cause and take medications OR just accept the fact and start taking medications from now"
I chose the latter :(
For context, I'm Pakistani so no concept of health insurance. All money would have to come from my brokea$$ family so no choice really lol
Regarding this potassium paper, it's interesting that it primarily concerns itself with sodium and potassium intake. I don't know that any reasonable change to my intake could have overcome the effects of aldosterone overproduction, but wouldn't the recommended changes to your diet depend on measuring your current balance?
During the work up I had to drink 18g/day of the foulest liquid ever to get my K levels high enough for the adrenal vein sampling to be valid.
Potassium’s therapeutic window (the difference between effective dose and lethal dose) is relatively small. The FDA limits OTC potassium supplements to 99 mg per dose due to safety concerns like hyperkalemia. You'd need to take about 48 pills to meet the recommended daily amount of 4,700 mg, making it impractical compared to getting potassium from food.
If people cannot do arithmetic, they may induce hyperkalemia:
Journal of Medical Toxicology, 2013: "Life-threatening hyperkalemia from cream of tartar ingestion"
https://sci-hub.se/10.1007/s13181-012-0255-x
Case reports: In both cases, individuals ingested a large quantity of cream of tartar in an effort to "clean themselves out". They manifested similar initial symptoms (vomiting), abnormal serum potassium (>8.0 mmol/L), and EKG's with peaked T waves. Both patients were treated for hyperkalemia and recovered without complication.
I see cream of tartar is 1 cent per gram in bulk, ~5 cents per 1000mg potassium.
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-mathematical-body-potassium.ht... -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34589454
