If your aim is to lower your blood pressure, an affordable and easily accessible tablet could help. Experts say potassium is found in a variety of foods, however if you are not getting enough, the American Heart Association says supplementing may provide significant benefits.
Heart experts stress that “foods rich in potassium are important in managing high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.” It helps by easing tension in your blood vessel walls, which also helps lower blood pressure.
And if you have too much salt (sodium), potassium can reduce the effects of this as too much sodium has been shown to increase blood pressure. This is because the more potassium in your diet, the more sodium you lose through urine.
You can pick up potassium tablets from the likes of Myvitamins MYPROTEIN™ for £4.03 – or around 4p per tablet.
Do I need potassium?
The experts state if you are an adult with a blood pressure of 120/80 mm Hg or higher and are “otherwise healthy” then they say that people in this category “may benefit from increasing potassium in their diet.”
However not everyone can have this so always ask your GP for advice. Potassium can be harmful in people with:
- Kidney disease
- Any condition that affects how the body handles potassium
- Certain medications
How much potassium should I have?
Recommended potassium intake for an average adult:
- Men: 3,400 milligrams per day
- Women: 2,600 milligrams per day
The associations: “These recommendations change with pregnancy and breastfeeding. If you are trying to prevent or treat high blood pressure, the AHA recommends 3,500 mg to 5,000 mg of potassium daily.”
Is there a diet or foods I should follow?
The add that the DASH diet is a good place to start. This stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy foods and fish.
Potassium-rich foods include:
- Fruits
- Apricots
- Cantaloupe
- Durian
- Guava
- Jackfruit
- Kiwifruit
- Orange juice
- Pomegranate juice
- Prune juice
- Vegetables
- Acorn squash
- Bamboo shoots
- Beet greens
- Carrot juice
- Fufu
- Lima beans
- Plantains
- Potato
- Spinach
- Swiss chard
- Water chestnuts
- Yam
- Dairy
- Buttermilk (low fat)
- Kefir
- Milk (fat free)
- Yogurt (Greek and plain)
- Proteins
- Bison
- Catfish
- Clams
- Goat
- Herring
- Rainbow trout
- Skipjack tuna
- Tempeh
Can you have too much potassium?
Yes, and it can really harm your kidneys as too much can build up when your kidneys are less able to remove it from your blood. Too much potassium can also be harmful if you take some medications or have certain medical conditions that affect potassium.
Potassium levels often must be very high before symptoms occur. Symptoms could include:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Irregular heart rate
- Fainting
- Muscle weakness