You can’t survive without potassium, but consuming too much of it isn’t just dangerous, it’s potentially deadly. Potassium toxicity occurs when you consume more potassium than your body can excrete. Obtaining the recommended adequate intake of this mineral through dietary sources, rather than supplements, will help you stay within safe limits and avoid potassium toxicity. Exceeding the adequate intake levels of potassium may put you at risk of cardiac arrhythmia. Do not take potassium supplements without consulting your doctor.
Adequate Intake
The amount of potassium that your body needs grows throughout childhood, levels out during adulthood and increases if you are a lactating woman. The adequate intake levels for potassium have been established by observing the normal potassium intake of healthy individuals. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, the adequate intake of potassium from birth to six months of age is 400 mg daily. Between 7 and 12 months of age, the adequate intake is 700 mg daily. Between one and three years of age the adequate intake is 3,000 mg daily. Between 4 and 8 years of age, the adequate intake is 3,800 mg daily. Between 9 and 13 years of age, the adequate intake is 4,500 mg daily. From the age of 14 and beyond, the adequate intake of potassium is 4,700 mg daily, with the exception of lactating women, who require 5,200 mg of potassium daily.
Food Sources and Toxicity
The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board normally establishes tolerable upper intake limits for nutrients, based on the dosage of each nutrient that has been associated with adverse effects. When it comes to potassium, the IOM has not established a tolerable upper limit, as the consumption of normal dietary potassium in food sources does not appear to cause adverse effects.
Potassium Supplements and Toxicity
Potassium supplements have the potential to deliver far higher dosages than food sources of potassium and are thus more dangerous. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, you should not take potassium supplements unless instructed to by your health care provider. Abnormally high dosages of potassium can result in hyperkalemia, or elevated levels of potassium in your blood. The normal range of potassium is between 3.7 to 5.2 milliequivalents per liter of blood, according to MedlinePlus.
Cardiac Function
It’s vital that your blood levels of potassium stay within normal concentrations, because a deficiency or excess of this mineral will affect the way your heart functions. Both hyperkalemia and hypokalemia, or low blood potassium, can result in heart arrhythmias leading to cardiac arrest.
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