Your body needs to get a certain amount of minerals to work properly. Some of these minerals, known as electrolytes, play an important role in regulating electrical activity in muscle tissue, such as the heart. Low levels of electrolytes can be caused due to inadequate intake or loss of electrolytes from the body and can place stress on the heart.
What Are Electrolytes?
Electrolytes are minerals which, when dissolved in water, carry an electrical charge. There are many different electrolytes which your body needs, including calcium, iron, magnesium, chloride, sodium, potassium and iodine. Each of these electrolytes has many different crucial roles in the body, especially for cells such as neurons and muscle cells, which use electrolytes to generate electrical signals. The main electrolytes that are important for the heart are calcium, sodium and potassium.
How Do Electrolytes Affect The Heart?
The heart has four chambers and the contraction of the muscle fibers in the heart must be carefully coordinated and synchronized so that blood is efficiently pumped. The electrolytes potassium and calcium are particularly important for the heart, as the heart particularly uses changes in both of these electrolytes to generate the electrical signals which control the heartbeat. Low potassium levels, also known as hypokalemia, can cause heart arrythmias, MayoClinic.com notes. Similarly, low levels of calcium or hypocalcemia interfere with your heart rhythm, ClevelandClinicMedEd.com states. Both conditions cause your heart to pump less efficiently, which puts extra strain on the heart.
Hypokalemia
Hypokalemia can be caused by inadequate potassium intake, but it is usually caused by the body losing large amounts of potassium, the Merck Manual of Health explains. Chronic diarrhea can cause the body to lose large amounts of potassium, as can severe vomiting. Potassium can also be lost through the renal system; poor kidney function or abnormally high levels of cortisol can cause the kidneys to secrete too much potassium. Hypokalemia can also be caused by diuretic use.
Hypocalcemia
Your calcium levels are controlled by your parathyroid gland, and a poorly functioning parathyroid gland can cause your calcium levels to drop, ClevelandClinicMedEd.com notes. Inadequate intake of calcium or vitamin D may also result in hypocalcemia. Certain kinds of cancer, chemotherapy drugs and acute inflammation of the pancreas also lower the amount of calcium in your blood. High phosphate levels will also decrease your calcium concentration.
