Potassium is a mineral that serves a wide range of roles in your body, including building muscle, preventing the blood from becoming too alkaline or acidic and helping conduct the heart’s electrical activity, according to MedlinePlus. Normally, you get potassium from foods and your kidneys help balance your body’s levels by excreting the excess through your urine. However, getting too little potassium in your diet or having conditions such as diarrhea and malabsorption syndrome can lead to a harmful potassium deficiency.
Blood Levels
Your blood normally has a potassium level of 3.6 to 5.2 millimoles per liter, according to MayoClinic.com. A level lower than that generally means you are low in potassium. If blood tests show that you have a low level, your doctor will initiate a conversation regarding what those numbers mean about your health and might set up a treatment plan. For instance, you might need to treat a medical problem that’s leading to the low levels and you might need to take potassium in the form of a supplement. Having a level of less than about 2.5 millimoles per liter is very low and life threatening, requiring serious medical intervention such as intravenous potassium.
Initial Symptoms
You might not have any noticeable symptoms from too little potassium in your body if the drop is slight. However, a more serious drop in potassium may lead to fatigue, weakness, muscle cramps, abnormal heart function, constipation and muscle spasms, according to MedlinePlus. Severely low potassium levels can cause life-threatening muscular paralysis and dangerous irregular heartbeat; chronically low potassium can cause kidney damage.
High Blood Pressure and Stroke
Having too little potassium in your body can cause salt sensitivity and might lead to high blood pressure. However, getting the recommended 4.7 or more grams of potassium through foods each day may slightly reduce blood pressure, according to MedlinePlus. Taking a potassium supplement might also help reduce your blood pressure if you aren’t getting enough potassium in your diet, though you should consult your doctor before you try supplementing. In addition, although you’re more likely to have a stroke if you don’t get enough potassium in your diet, taking a potassium supplement isn’t likely to reduce your stroke risk, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Getting Enough Potassium
Infants should get about .4 to .7 grams of potassium a day, children should get about 3 to 4.5 grams daily and teens and adults age 14 and up should get about 4.7 grams a day, according to MedlinePlus. You generally need about 5.1 grams of potassium per day if you are breastfeeding, but ask your doctor for specific recommendations. As a reference point, a medium banana has about 4.2 grams of potassium, a medium potato with its skin contains about 9.3 grams of potassium and ½ cup of prunes contains about 6.4 grams of potassium, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. So many foods are rich in potassium that a deficiency is rarely a symptom of insufficient dietary intake, but you can still reduce your risk of having too-low levels by eating enough potassium-rich foods each day.
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