Kalium in Supplementen en Voeding: De Complete Guide

Potassium in Supplements and Food: The Complete Guide

Geschreven door: Ebrina van der Bijl

Gepubliceerd op: December 16, 2024

Leesduur: 10 min

Potassium is important for our health, from blood pressure regulation to muscle and nerve function.

In this blog post, discover everything about potassium, from its essential role in your body to how to get the most out of your diet. We'll also discuss the benefits of potassium and what factors can cause a deficiency or excess.

Potassium regulates blood pressure, supports muscle and nerve function, and helps maintain fluid balance. Potassium is ingested through food or supplements.

A potassium deficiency can cause muscle weakness, fatigue, heart rhythm disturbances and high blood pressure, while an excess can be harmful.

Foods like coconut water, nuts, vegetables, and meat are high in potassium; a supplement is usually only needed if you are deficient.

What is Potassium?

Potassium is an essential mineral for regulating blood pressure and supporting muscle and nerve function. As an electrolyte, potassium works with sodium to regulate the fluid balance in your cells.

Your body doesn't produce potassium itself, so it must be obtained through food or supplements. Foods like cocoa, vegetables, fruits, meat, and nuts are good sources of potassium.

What is Potassium good for?

The blood pressure

Potassium has a beneficial effect on blood pressure . This is because potassium works together with sodium:

The salt you eat is made up of sodium and chloride. Sodium is a component of salt and can raise blood pressure by retaining fluid. In response (to protect your body), potassium helps remove the sodium through your urine, lowering your blood pressure.

Good to know: Eating more potassium from food and less sodium (salt) helps lower your blood pressure.

The muscles

Potassium plays a role in maintaining strong and supple muscles . This mineral ensures that your muscles receive the correct signals to move. It also helps supply energy to the muscle cells.

This is important to prevent muscle cramps and your muscles can function properly.

The nerves

Potassium has a positive effect on the functioning of the nervous system . Nerves communicate through electrical signals. Potassium helps generate and transmit these signals. Among other things, it ensures that nerve cells have the right balance of substances to function properly.

Types of Potassium

Although it is preferable to get potassium through your diet, in certain situations it may be necessary to take potassium supplements.

Different types of potassium are used in potassium supplements:

Potassium citrate
Potassium chloride (also called dietary salt, flavoring)
Potassium phosphate
Potassium bicarbonate
Potassium gluconate

Similarities and Differences

Most forms of potassium are well absorbed and are effective in treating potassium deficiency.

The main difference is in the chemical compounds:

Organic compounds - Potassium citrate and potassium gluconate
Inorganic compounds - Potassium chloride, potassium phosphate and potassium bicarbonate

Remember: Organic potassium compounds are generally better tolerated than inorganic forms. This can make them somewhat milder on your stomach.

Choose the right form of potassium based on your specific needs and circumstances.

This information can help you choose the right form of potassium depending on your specific needs and circumstances:

	Intake	Connection	Advantage
Potassium citrate	Very good	Organic	Best recorded.
Potassium chloride	Good	Inorganic	Effective in quickly increasing potassium
Potassium phosphate	Good	Inorganic	Increases both potassium and phosphate levels in the body
Potassium bicarbonate	Good	Inorganic	Regulates the body's pH value
Potassium gluconate	Good	Organic	More gentle on the stomach and therefore suitable for longer use

What is the best type of Potassium?

Potassium citrate and potassium chloride are considered the best forms because of their high bioavailability and effectiveness in correcting potassium deficiencies.
Potassium citrate has the added benefit of making urine less acidic, which can contribute to a healthier urinary system.
Potassium gluconate is also easily absorbed and gentler on the stomach, making it a good choice for people with sensitive stomachs or who need to take supplements long-term.

Good to know: The easiest way to get potassium is through food. A supplement is (often) not necessary. If you think you have a potassium deficiency, you can discuss this with a medical specialist.

How much potassium per day?

How much potassium you need per day depends on your age and individual factors:

Age / need	Recommended Daily Amount
Babies (6-11 months)	1100 mg
Babies (12-23 months)	1400 mg
Children (2-5 years)	1800 mg
Children (6-9 years)	2000 mg
Boys (10-13 years)	3300 mg
Boys (14-17 years)	3500 mg
Men (18 years and older)	3500 mg
Girls (10-13 years)	2900 mg
Girls (14-17 years)	3100 mg
Women (18 years and older)	3500 mg
Pregnant women	3500 mg
Women who are breastfeeding	3100 mg

Source: Nutrition Center (1)

What contains (a lot of) Potassium?

Potassium is a mineral found in many different types of food.

These are foods that are particularly high in potassium:

Food	Potassium per 100 grams
Cocoa powder	1500 mg
Apricots (dried)	1500 mg
Pistachios	871 mg
Almonds	668 mg
Lentils (brown and green, cooked)	657 mg
Steak	561 mg
Spinach (raw)	539 mg
Salmon	489 mg
Avocado	429 mg
Broccoli	399 mg
Banana	374 mg
Whole wheat bread (with seeds)	351 mg
Boiled potatoes	340 mg
Coconut water	250 mg

Source: Nevo table online, 2023

How is Potassium absorbed?

Most of the potassium we ingest is absorbed in the small intestine. The kidneys then regulate the amount of potassium in the body, keeping potassium levels stable in the blood and body cells.

Then, most of the potassium is excreted through your urine, while a small portion is excreted through your feces and an even smaller portion is excreted through your skin through sweating.

Potassium too low

If you do not get enough potassium for a longer period of time or suffer from certain health problems (see "causes of low potassium"), this can have long-term effects on your health.

When you have a potassium deficiency, it is also called hypokalemia .

Symptoms of low potassium

You can recognize a potassium deficiency by these symptoms:

Muscle weakness
Fatigue/Listenliness
Complaints in your stomach and intestines (nausea)
Cardiac arrhythmias (in severe cases)[2]
High blood pressure

Causes of low potassium

Potassium deficiency is uncommon in a normal person. The mineral potassium is found in many different foods, and your body controls its own balance.

However, a deficiency can arise from various causes. These are the most common:

Kidney diseases
Eating disorders
Mediation (diuretics / water tablets / ACE inhibitors)
Severe diarrhea and/or excessive vomiting
Disrupted diabetes
Excessive alcohol use / alcoholism

What to do if you have too little potassium?

In that case, it's best to start eating more potassium-rich foods. If that's not enough, consider taking potassium supplements in consultation with a nutritionist or doctor.

In addition , the balance between potassium and sodium is very important. We'll tell you more about this in Chapter 8.

My favorite way: A varied diet naturally provides you with enough potassium. One of my favorite ways to get more potassium through food is drinking coconut water. A pint of coconut water is relatively inexpensive and contains 1250 mg of potassium. It's also rich in magnesium, B vitamins, zinc, and vitamin C, among other nutrients.

Potassium too high

Potassium overload is rare in healthy individuals. Even if you eat more potassium than your body can use, you'll simply pee it out! That's why there's no official tolerable upper intake level.

There are, however, situations (medical conditions) in which your potassium can be too high. We will tell you more about this under "causes of potassium being too high".

Up to 3 grams of extra potassium per day is safe

To get an idea of what a safe dose of potassium is (to take extra), many studies have been conducted, which show that 2.5-3 grams of potassium (as a supplement) per day has no adverse effects on health in healthy people:

In 2015, Wageningen University & Research conducted a study on the effects of long-term use of potassium supplements. They examined 22 studies with a total of 1,086 participants. It turned out that taking extra potassium, an average of 2.5 grams per day for about four weeks, has no noticeable effect on heart rate[3].
The Nutrition Center even states that: 'With long-term use of 3 grams of potassium chloride as a supplement in addition to a normal diet, no adverse effects on health have been found in healthy people[4].

Symptoms of high potassium

If you take more than 5-7 grams of extra potassium every day, it can result in unpleasant symptoms.

It is known that from this amount onwards you are likely to experience the following symptoms:

Short of breath
Tingling
Numbness
A weak feeling

Ingesting 18 grams at a time and not being able to urinate out the excess potassium can lead to potassium poisoning . The consequences are much more serious.

Please note: If the potassium level is too high, heart rhythm disturbances or, in extreme cases, cardiac arrest may occur!

Causes of Potassium Too High

Besides overdosing on potassium supplements, there are a number of other reasons why potassium levels in your body can become too high.

Too much potassium in the body, also called hyperkalemia , can be caused by:

Kidney Problems - Because the kidneys regulate the amount of potassium in the body, decreased kidney function can lead to potassium buildup.
Medications - Certain medications, commonly prescribed for diabetics and/or for high blood pressure, can decrease potassium excretion, contributing to elevated blood potassium levels.
Insulin deficiency - In the absence of insulin, such as in untreated type 1 diabetes, potassium cannot be effectively transported into the cells, resulting in it remaining in the blood.
(Diabetic) acidosis - Acidosis is a condition in which the blood or other body fluids become too acidic, such as in diabetes. This can cause elevated potassium levels in the blood.[5]

What to do if potassium is too high?

Do you suspect you have too much potassium in your blood? Consult a doctor or specialist first to determine the cause.

Please note: It is important to determine the cause of hyperkalemia and seek medical attention if necessary, as high potassium levels can cause serious health problems.

Potassium and blood pressure

Potassium and sodium work against each other in many ways to maintain balance:

A high sodium intake can lead to increased blood pressure, but an adequate potassium intake can help counteract this effect . This happens because potassium stimulates the kidneys to excrete more sodium, which helps lower blood pressure.

Balance between Potassium and Sodium

So the balance between the two minerals is what counts!

Eating too much salt (which is high in sodium) can raise your blood pressure because it causes your body to retain more fluid.
Eating plenty of potassium can actually lower your blood pressure . Potassium helps your body excrete more sodium in your urine and helps your blood vessels relax.

In the Netherlands, our potassium intake is good. Both men and women eat an average of more than 3,500 mg of potassium (the RDA). However, we eat too much salt. The latest report from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) shows that we eat between 8 and 11 grams of salt per day. That's almost twice as much as the maximum amount of 6 grams per day![6]

My tip: The salt you consume (usually) doesn't come from the salt container on the table, but rather from the salt added to food by manufacturers. Therefore, avoid prepackaged foods as much as possible and choose unprocessed foods more often, preparing them yourself. This can help you better manage your salt intake.

What is Potassium Salt (Diet Salt)?

Potassium salt, also called diet salt, is a seasoning based on potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. It has a slightly different flavor than the salt you're used to, but it also enhances the taste.

This alternative form of salt therefore only contains potassium and no sodium.

Why choose potassium salt?

Potassium salt can help you reduce your table salt (sodium chloride) intake. This can help maintain healthy blood pressure and increase your potassium intake.

Buy the best diet salt

A good diet salt is a product that is very low in sodium. According to the law, a product label may only say " Very low sodium or salt content " if it contains less than 0.1 gram of salt or 0.04 gram of sodium per 100 grams .

But be careful: Discuss the use of potassium salt with your doctor first if you have kidney problems or are taking medications such as diuretics or ACE inhibitors. You are then at a higher risk of high potassium levels!

The best way to get more potassium

It's best to get potassium primarily through your diet. Foods like coconut water, green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, various fruits, and boiled potatoes are excellent sources of potassium.

Taking a potassium supplement is often unnecessary. If you suspect a potassium deficiency, discuss it first with your doctor and/or a medical specialist.

Ebrina van der Bijl

Ebrina is a nutritionist with a deep commitment to healthy eating and a sustainable lifestyle, based in beautiful Portugal. Her passion for natural and organic products is at the heart of her work. With a background in Nutrition & Dietetics and experience in product development and writing, she translates complex scientific information into practical advice for a balanced lifestyle.

Sources used

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