What happens to your blood pressure when you take potassium supplements

Potassium supplements can lower your blood pressure, although it is best to reach foods rich in potassium before adding pills to your diet. Potassium can be useful for some people with hypertension due to its impact on blood vessels, but too much potassium can be dangerous.

How potassium supplements affect blood pressure

“If your potassium is normal, potassium supplements will not have a major impact on blood pressure,” LuWell Luke J. Laffin MD, co -director of the Center for Herted Pressure Disorders of the Cleveland Clinic told.

“However, if your potassium is low, raise potassium, whether with supplements or by food -rich foods in its diet, can lower blood pressure,” added Laffin.

Potassium has many essential jobs in the body. It helps to carry out nerve impulses, contract muscles and maintain liquid volume and blood volume, which helps maintain the functioning of the heart normally, Yasi Ansari, MS, RDN, CSSD, senior dietitian at UCLA Health in Santa Monica, told Testwell.

“Potassium can help lower blood pressure by reducing tensions in the walls of blood vessels and reducing the volume of extracellular fluid,” said Ansari.

“However, supplements should only be used when necessary, because too much potassium can be dangerous,” she added.

Which should take a potassium supplement

Your doctor may recommend a supplement if you don’t get enough potassium.

“Supplementation can help correct small potassium levels, especially if someone does not eat enough potassium thanks to a diet or losing excessive quantities thanks to diuretic use, intense sweating, diarrhea or vomiting,” said Ansari.

People with malnutrition and people who use dialysis can also benefit from potassium supplementation, she added.

Potassium supplements are generally not recommended for people with the sole purpose of treating hypertension. “For most people, stimulating potassium through food is the safest and most efficient approach,” said Ansari.

Supplements may be recommended for some people under medical supervision, especially if they are under certain drugs that can put them at risk of hypokalemia or low potassium levels.

Why taking potassium supplements can be dangerous

If you are starting to take potassium without speaking to your doctor, you might feel serious side effects. Having too much potassium, called hyperkalemia, can increase its risk of dangerous cardiac arrhythmias, said Laffin.

“Potassium is excreted via urine, so if a patient suffers from kidney disease, it is more at risk of hyperkalemia and should be more careful on potassium supplements and drugs that increase potassium levels,” said Laffin.

How to get more potassium in your diet

“It is preferred to get an additional potassium via food -rich foods,” said Laffin.

Many foods can help increase your potassium levels, which can help you lower your blood pressure without adding more pills to your routine.

Ansari has recommended looking for foods that provide around 20% of the daily value (DV) of potassium. “The potassium DV is 4,700 milligrams per day,” she added.

Certain foods entering this category include:

• A cup of cooked lenses: 732 mg potassium
• Half a cup of dried apricots: 756 mg potassium
• A puree musk squash cup: 582 mg potassium
• Three quarters of a cup of raisins: 921 mg potassium
• A medium filled potato: 926 mg potassium
• A large banana: 678 mg potassium
• A cup of cooked beet green: 1309 mg of potassium
• A cup of cooked beacon: 961 mg of potassium
• A cup of carrot juice: 689 mg potassium