You might be asking yourself “Should I start taking potassium supplements?” because you think you don’t get enough potassium daily. Well, you are most likely to be right.
That’s because in the USA less than 2% of the population does meet the daily recommended amount of potassium. (1) Insane right?
But what’s the big deal with potassium? Can’t we live without it? Potassium is a vital mineral that has many benefits to your health and can also improve your life quality drastically.
Some of the most important benefits of potassium are:
- Lowering the Risk of Heart Diseases
- Lowering Your Blood Pressure
- Regulating Muscle and Heart Contractions
- Activating Nerve Impulses
- Easier Digestion of Carbs
There is another point we have to make to paint the picture of how vital it is for you to get enough potassium. Did you know that there is a correlation between sodium and potassium?
Potassium can balance the sodium levels in your body to help your body function better. You are most likely to be getting too much sodium and not enough potassium at all which leads to health problems.
If you don’t believe us, let’s take a look at these statistics:
Average American consumes around 3,400 mg of sodium per day because their diet highly depends on fast food.
According to the Dietary Guidelines; the daily intake of sodium should be only 2,300 mg per day.
Let’s recall that only 2% of Americans have enough potassium daily.
So, this leads people to die because of heart failure, etc. How many Americans die of heart diseases? Each year around 655,000 Americans die from heart diseases, that’s 1 in every 4 death happening because of heart diseases. (2)
In the USA roughly every 36 seconds, a person dies of heart disease.
FDA determined foods high in potassium are permitted to indicate on their label: “Diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.”
Now you must know how important potassium is to your health.
If you want to read more about this vital subject and find natural potassium-rich food suggestions, click the link below:
11 Nutrient Foods High in Potassium – Thin Line Between Chaos & Order
Taking Potassium Supplements
Potassium can prevent diseases and improve your internal organs drastically. If you are one of the few who has a healthy diet, you don’t have to worry that much.
However, as we indicated in the previous section, you are most likely to take too much sodium and not enough potassium. Doctors and dieticians recommend potassium-rich diets and/or potassium supplements to prevent or treat health problems such as heart diseases, high blood pressure, cancer, stroke, digestive disorders, and even infertility.
Besides having a poor diet also; if you do physical labor, live in a country with a hot climate, have an already existing health problem, smoke, drink alcohol, or do drugs; you are probably more likely to not get enough potassium.
So, how much potassium should people take daily?
For babies between 0-6 months 400 mg and between 7-12 months 860 mg daily.
For children between the age 1-3; 2,000 mg, 4-8 years; 2,300 mg and 9-13 years; 2,500 mg for males and 2,300 for females.
For male teenagers between the age of 14-18; 3,000 mg and for females 2,300 mg.
And for adults after the age of 19; 3,400 mg for males and 2,600 mg for females. Pregnant women should take 2,900 mg of potassium daily. (3)
Before we get to our section of best potassium supplements, let’s talk about some possible side effects:
High doses of potassium can lead to an upset stomach and could be dangerous for allergic people. If you have serious heart disease, stomach ulcer, kidney disease, diabetes, Addison’s disease, or something similar to these dangerous health problems; speak to your doctor before taking any potassium supplements.
If you take too much potassium that leads to overdose, you can experience signs such as muscle weaknesses, paralysis, confusion, irregular heartbeat, and low blood pressure.
So, if you have a special health condition; speak to your doctor before you start potassium supplementation.
Best Potassium Supplements
Life Extension Potassium with Extend-Release Magnesium
Life Extension brings potassium and extend-release magnesium together in this gluten-free and non-GMO supplement to improve your blood pressure levels. In each vegetarian capsule, there is 250 mg of magnesium and 99 mg of potassium. Take 1 or 2 capsules a day according to your healthcare practitioner.
Why Life Extension?
They guarantee 100% customer satisfaction with their full one-year, money-back guarantee policy.
Their products are backed by medical doctors, nutritionists, and health professionals and they have science-backed formulations that are the result of 40 years of research.
Almost all of their products are manufactured in the U.S, and a Certificate of Analysis is available for every product that they have.
Vitamin World’s supplement has only 99 mg of potassium and no magnesium compared to the Life Extension supplement. There are 250 gluten-free and vegetarian caplets.
Also, if you want to get a potassium supplement on Amazon; NOW Potassium Supplement is the best among the rest, read customer reviews to make up your mind:
On top of your potassium supplementation, you must eat a potassium-rich diet that consists of whole foods such as;
Bananas, avocados, vegetables, grains, potatoes, salmon, chicken, whole milk, almonds, and nuts.
Don’t forget that these products are only supplements and can’t replace real foods.
Conclusion
Within this article, we answered the question “Should I start taking potassium supplements”. We’ve shown with statistics that how low a regular person takes potassium and how much danger they are in if they don’t change their behavior.
We presented the pros and cons of potassium supplements and gave some top-notch potassium supplement recommendations. It’s up to you to decide what you do with all this information. We hope that these statistics don’t only stay in your mind as only trivial info and you do something proactive with them.
Have you found our article useful? Let us know in the comments if you are planning to change your dietary habits.
Thank you for reading.
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