# dietary potassium **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745 "2014-07-10T05:36:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/41 "2014-07-11T12:30:52Z")
The RDA for potassium is about 3g. A nice-sized potato nets you almost a gram of potassium. Eat a couple daily. They do not spoil quickly as long as they are in a cool and dark place. Once a month grocery shopping should be just fine. And I get weird and anxious when I don’t eat right, to the point where all food sounds unappealing for various reasons. There’s a study out there in which military recruits (I believe) who were kept on short rations began to as though they had anorexia nervosa, despite not exhibiting that behavior originally. [Here’s the wiki.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment#Results) Be well. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/42 "2014-07-11T12:42:15Z")
To piggyback - 1. It may or may not be a reasonable assumption that LD50 is the same as for rat (2,600 mg/kg) or mouse (1,500 mg/kg) or something else, given that two similar animals have such notably different numbers. 2. Are implying that under the LD50 is okay, because there is less than a 50/50 shot of dying from it? The LD50 does not tell us the shape of the curve. What is the LD5? The LD1? Even the LD0.1? Seriously. I’d consider a dose that has a 1 in a thousand chance of killing you to be something to seriously advise against unless there was highly significant offsetting benefit. We know it has occurred at lower doses. 3. There may be a selection bias for higher risk populations to be more likely to be taking a potassium supplement … there is higher for the elderly (declining renal function), other people with (including undiagnosed) kidney disease, and people on other medications, including certain diuretics, high blood pressure medications, heart medications, NSAIDs even. Someone who is engaged in such an extreme of diet that inadequate potassium is a real consideration might perhaps be at risk for having something else wrong as a result or as a contributing cause. 4. GI problems, not necessarily fatal, are reported at lower acute doses due to direct irritation. Still a major problem, sloughing off lining sort of problem. LD50 in rat is hardly a reassuring number. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/43 "2014-07-11T16:17:43Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Potassium is a basic element of life, found in all living things. All foods (except highly some refined ones, such as sugar or cooking oil) contain it in significant amounts. It’s my impression that many diet-tracking websites (especially ones that allow user entries) seem to omit potassium as an entered nutrient. I find myself frequently being told while tracking my day’s food that I am not consuming enough potassium, when I’m not even really limiting calorie intake much or eating anything that restricted. The OP may be incorrect in his presumption. ---
**Author:** ![needtoknow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@needtoknow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needtoknow)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/44 "2014-07-11T17:42:09Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > One symptom of potassium deficiency (according to WebMD) is “Abnormal psychological behaviour: depression, psychosis, delirium, confusion or hallucinations.” No, the reality around dogs is seriously nuts here. It’s not me imagining things. I can give you urls. And if it was just me, the DA’s office could issue a letter to correct me, and i could have a printer in town blow it up to poster size, and i could stick it to the wall in a nice frame. This \is\ off topic, if you want to start a dog thread, or a “discerning reality from imagination” thread, go for it. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/45 "2014-07-11T17:59:35Z")
> [@needtoknow](#): > > No, the reality around dogs is seriously nuts here. It’s not me imagining things. I can give you urls. And if it was just me, the DA’s office could issue a letter to correct me, and i could have a printer in town blow it up to poster size, and i could stick it to the wall in a nice frame. This \is\ off topic, if you want to start a dog thread, or a “discerning reality from imagination” thread, go for it. If you let us know where “here” is we might be able to better judge your reported experience. ---
**Author:** ![needtoknow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@needtoknow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needtoknow)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/46 "2014-07-11T18:17:05Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > If you let us know where “here” is we might be able to better judge your reported experience. In a thread about dietary potassium? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/47 "2014-07-11T18:46:50Z")
> [@needtoknow](#): > > In a thread about dietary potassium? In post 18 you said that was “settled.” Now we’re just making small talk. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/48 "2014-07-11T19:17:40Z")
> [@needtoknow](#): > > Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, ramen or generic pasta with added flavor packet (no spagetti sauce). Candy. Occasional whey protein shake, which has helped immensely, for years i could not lift my arms above my shoulders. If i need to go out of the local area (maybe once a month), i get a burger with lettuce and tomatoe and fries, eat covertly in the car. > > Granted a vitamin pill has 90mg (1%) and the whey drink has 420mg (12%) , but i am concerned about the quantities of other stuff in the “muscle drink”, and don’t drink it every day. > > Since you are going to keep pestering me, i’ll tell you the local District Attorney’s office has decided if the neighbor’s dogs bark, i must be guilty of animal abuse (mental cruelty), and that is a 10 year jail term, and they have arrested me for having a window fan 300ft from the property line, arrested me for mowing my yard, for having a garden, for driving my car, for having trash pickup, for spraying the poison ivy, and for having the car headlights on at night. Why?, because the dogs bark at everything. I have tried relocating myself to another county, to another state. I now don’t have the money to move. One DA attorney told me to gravel the lawn and garden area. They also told me to arrange, with the nighbors, special times to go to the road to get my mail, or drive to town. > > The insanity of the situation, the threat of going to jail for 10 years, leads me to not have any evidence of a dog-offensive garden. Plus veggies tend to spoil, making frequent replenishment drives to town necessary. Which irritates the dog, which will get me arrested again. It also puts me in harm’s way, because it was declared in court, in a loud yelling tone of voice, that the dog has a right to bite me, and i have no right to tell it to let go of me. I am talking pit bulls and rottwilers. There is a county animal control law. People have been killed by dogs all around here, every year. You cannot help with this, give it a rest, get off of me about it. May I suggest that you consider picking up several window boxes and potting soil when you are next able to go shopping? You may not be able to go outside to garden but you can grow stuff in windowboxes _on the insides of the windows_ and get some fresh stuff - radishes take 20 days from seed to salad, and there are other things that can be grown to give you some choices. [I actually have 6 aerogardens, one is the one that is extra tall so I can grow tomatoes or cucumbers in it. I tend to have them scattered around and use them instead of those specialty SAD lights, I keep mine set on 5 am - 11 PM and grow a number of things ranging from parsley, basil, tomatoes, cukes, lettuce, mint, now peas.] Though I would consider taking the letter from the DA/court and going to the ACLU and seeing if you can get a lwayer who will counter litigate for your loss of enjoyment on your own property. Perhaps get a cheap webcam and use it to document that you are doing nothing to the neighbors dogs but that they are in fact acting out and making it so you are unable to use your own property to the fullest. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/49 "2014-07-11T19:48:41Z")
Am i the only person able to read what this OP is posting?! Am I just not privy to a prior discussion/thread or something? Wtf is all this talk about barking dogs/getting arrested/moving to no avail? **HUH?** ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/50 "2014-07-11T20:46:20Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > The rat LD50 for potassium chloride taken orally is 2,600 mg/kg ([http://avogadro.chem.iastate.edu/MSDS/KCl.htm](http://avogadro.chem.iastate.edu/MSDS/KCl.htm)). For a 150 lb (68 kg) human this would be 177,000 mg (6.24 oz) worth. Even if supplements contained 100% of the USRDA you’d need to consume almost 40 pills a day to reach that. I’m guessing that’s the LD50 for acute potassium poisoning, or something of that nature. But consider that even a slight overrepresentation of potassium in a blood test (normal is 3.5-5 mEq/L of serum…doctors start to look panicky at just 5.1) can give one cardiac arrhythmias which can damage heart tissue even if they don’t kill you, making you significantly impaired and more likely to die of a heart attack later, even after the potassium level is brought back to normal. And researchers are currently reconsidering that range of “normal”, at least in some patient populations. [“Serum K levels of 4.5 to 5.0 mEq/L were associated with about twice the in-hospital mortality risk as levels of 3.5 to 4.5 mEq/L after adjustment for many comorbidities and other potential confounders.”](http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/756717) So an overdose of potassium is a big freaking scary deal, and [salt substitutes and supplements have been implicated in more than one death](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?itool=pubmed_Abstract&DbFrom=pubmed&Cmd=Link&LinkName=pubmed_pubmed&IdsFromResult=682320&retmode=ref). You might know Potassium from one of its more famous uses: assisted suicide. Pushing too much potassium into an IV too quickly is known as “pushing a Kevorkian” in nursing circles. (This is a bit of a pun as well, of course, as Potassium’s abbreviation is K.) You’ve got more room for error with oral potassium, but it’s still deadly stuff if not used as intended. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/51 "2014-07-11T20:50:12Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Am i the only person able to read what this OP is posting?! Am I just not privy to a prior discussion/thread or something? Wtf is all this talk about barking dogs/getting arrested/moving to no avail? **HUH?** Hmmmm, confused and not able to follow the discussion? Perhaps you’re hypokalemic. Eat 3 bananas and try again, then get back to us. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/52 "2014-07-11T20:59:27Z")
No Ambi, others read it and just choose not to challenge or engage regarding what the op experiences as his personal reality. The op believes that he will be arrested and jailed for ten years if his neighbor’s dogs bark among other things. On that basis he has apparently placed himself on an extremely restricted and calorie and nutrition deficient diet which would not rationally follow from those circumstances if they were the reality that the rest of us shared. We do not know who he is and he does not give any reason to believe he represents an immanent harm to himself or others. All we can do from the vantage point of a MB is to wish for his health and hope he somehow gets some effective help. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/53 "2014-07-11T20:59:31Z")
Avocados are the bomb for potassium, by the way. (Not posting for the OPs edification, as he’s not interested in food sources of potassium, but just for those playing along at home.) I’m not sure how bananas became the poster child for potassium rich foods. I mean, they’re not bad, but avocados (708mg), swiss chard (961mg), beans (970-1200mg) and white baked potatoes with the skins (897mg) really leave bananas (422mg) in the dust. 😃 [Canned veggies and beans are just as good as fresh, potassiumly speaking](http://www.livestrong.com/article/290029-nutrition-facts-for-canned-vegetables-frozen-vegetables/). ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/54 "2014-07-11T21:31:43Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I’m guessing that’s the LD50 for acute potassium poisoning, or something of that nature. But consider that even a slight overrepresentation of potassium in a blood test (normal is 3.5-5 mEq/L of serum…doctors start to look panicky at just 5.1) can give one cardiac arrhythmias which can damage heart tissue even if they don’t kill you, making you significantly impaired and more likely to die of a heart attack later, even after the potassium level is brought back to normal. > > And researchers are currently reconsidering that range of “normal”, at least in some patient populations. [“Serum K levels of 4.5 to 5.0 mEq/L were associated with about twice the in-hospital mortality risk as levels of 3.5 to 4.5 mEq/L after adjustment for many comorbidities and other potential confounders.”](http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/756717) > > So an overdose of potassium is a big freaking scary deal, and [salt substitutes and supplements have been implicated in more than one death](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?itool=pubmed_Abstract&DbFrom=pubmed&Cmd=Link&LinkName=pubmed_pubmed&IdsFromResult=682320&retmode=ref). > > You might know Potassium from one of its more famous uses: assisted suicide. Pushing too much potassium into an IV too quickly is known as “pushing a Kevorkian” in nursing circles. (This is a bit of a pun as well, of course, as Potassium’s abbreviation is K.) You’ve got more room for error with oral potassium, but it’s still deadly stuff if not used as intended. My post specified **oral** potassium consumption, not IV potassium. ---
**Author:** ![needtoknow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f9ae1b/32.png) [@needtoknow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needtoknow)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/55 "2014-07-11T21:55:31Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > In post 18 you said that was “settled.” Now we’re just making small talk. This would be loaded small talk tho. Using someone else’s words who was in court with me: they threw everything AND the kitchen sink at me. The DA’s office said the only reason to turn on a common window fan or bathroom vent fan was to attract dogs, and anyone who can get away with that in court will claim any veggies i have on hand proove was gardening again to harrass the gods and make them bark, because they barked the other day. I already said that once, and i decline to publically elaborate more, as DSeid has already made a judgement about me, and Ambivalid is protesting furiously. I opened with a simple question, and it’s gone everywhere else, and yet you want to keep it going. It’s a trap i will judged badly for getting into. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/56 "2014-07-11T22:54:47Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > My post specified **oral** potassium consumption, not IV potassium. > [@WhyNot](#): > > So an overdose of potassium is a big freaking scary deal, and salt substitutes and supplements have been implicated in more than one death. … > > …You’ve got more room for error with oral potassium, but it’s still deadly stuff if not used as intended. (What is it with people taking a last paragraph “…and also…” and thinking it’s got the thesis of the post?) ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/57 "2014-07-12T00:21:58Z")
> [@needtoknow](#): > > This would be loaded small talk tho. Using someone else’s words who was in court with me: they threw everything AND the kitchen sink at me. The DA’s office said the only reason to turn on a common window fan or bathroom vent fan was to attract dogs, and anyone who can get away with that in court will claim any veggies i have on hand proove was gardening again to harrass the gods and make them bark, because they barked the other day. I already said that once, and i decline to publically elaborate more, as DSeid has already made a judgement about me, and Ambivalid is protesting furiously. I opened with a simple question, and it’s gone everywhere else, and yet you want to keep it going. It’s a trap i will judged badly for getting into. Nope, not protesting at all. I getcha now. Potassium deficiency is serious business. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/58 "2014-07-12T00:23:07Z")
Is it possible to get too much of _any_ vitamin or mineral through food sources? Obviously one can eat too much food, but can you get too much potassium through food? (Sorry if this is too stupid.) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/59 "2014-07-12T01:02:17Z")
I’d think the fat-soluble ones would be the easiest to OD on. Carotenemia causes orange skin if you eat way too many carrots. You can get too much vitamin A from lots of liver, especially certain wild animals (polar bear, moose). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745/60 "2014-07-12T11:16:08Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > Is it possible to get too much of _any_ vitamin or mineral through food sources? Obviously one can eat too much food, but can you get too much potassium through food? > > (Sorry if this is too stupid.) Um, yes and no … if you are healthy and well hydrated your kidneys will normally flush out any excess. The problem with calcium and potassium is that they are used in regulating certain things, um, working off memory since I am on my damned tablet right now- your muscles use calcium and potassium and magnesium to regular muscle contraction and relaxation - so if your electrolytes are off, it can screw with your heart beat and other functions. Calcium and potassium are also a bit of a see saw relationship in bone density - the calcium deposits in the bone structure, but potassium helps keep it there. SO yes, you do want to eat foods rich in minerals and vitamins and certain blocks of amino acids _but_ you don’t want to overdo it, or sometimes consume them in such a manner that they block the body from being able to use them efficiently. [like iron in combination with calcium or antacids.] You can _sort of_ not worry about water soluable vitamins, and you do have to be very careful about fat soluable ones. [and don’t overdose on niacin! Unless you want the hot flashes, and believe me hot flashes and flushes are not fun!] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dietary-potassium/692745.md?page=4)