Understanding how different minerals affect your biology is a great example of how knowledge is power. There is so much buzz about magnesium for sleep, copper for anti-aging properties, zinc’s effect on the immune system, calcium for bone health – the list goes on. However, minerals don’t work alone. Let’s chat about potassium’s role in your body and how it relates to minerals.
What is Potassium?
Potassium is an electrolyte and mineral that helps regulate fluid balance, nerve signals, and muscle contractions. Potassium deficiency is quite common in North America. It’s estimated that about 98 percent of Americans fall short of the recommended potassium intake, which is around 4,700 milligrams per day for adults.
How Minerals Work Together
Potassium plays a vital role in the body’s overall mineral balance and interacts with several other minerals to support various physiological functions. Here are a few examples:
- Sodium: Potassium and sodium work together to maintain fluid balance, nerve function, and muscle contractions. Potassium helps counteract the effects of sodium by relaxing blood vessels, which helps lower blood pressure.
- Magnesium: Magnesium helps regulate potassium levels by influencing its absorption and excretion. A deficiency in magnesium can lead to low potassium levels, resulting in muscle cramps and weakness. Potassium and magnesium work together to regulate heart rhythm. Adequate levels of both minerals are necessary to prevent arrhythmias and support overall cardiovascular health.
- Calcium: Potassium helps neutralize acids in the body that can otherwise leach calcium from bones. This interaction supports bone density and helps prevent osteoporosis, especially as you age. Potassium and calcium both play roles in muscle contraction, but they do so in opposite ways. Calcium initiates the contraction, while potassium helps the muscle cells return to their resting state, allowing for relaxation.
- Phosphorus: Phosphorus and potassium are both involved in cellular energy production. Potassium helps with the utilization of phosphorus in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is the primary energy carrier in cells.
- Potassium: Potassium plays a key role for heart health, bone health, muscle function and recovery. It’s also key to kidney function and cognitive health. As mentioned, potassium helps to regulate fluid balance in the body, which is vital for healthy kidney function. It assists the kidneys in filtering out waste products and excess fluids, reducing the risk of kidney stones and promoting overall detoxification. Potassium supports healthy blood flow to the brain, which is essential for maintaining cognitive abilities as we age. Ensuring adequate potassium intake is a helpful adjunct in reducing the risk of cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.
Ensuring you get enough potassium is difficult due to nutrient depletion of our food source. It’s often best to take in potassium supplementally such as using Blu K+: Blu K+ offers 300mg of potassium in a uniquely formulated blend of potassium bicarbonate and potassium bound to the amino acid glycine, which gives the product optimum potency, stability, and tolerability. This alkalinizing formula provides nutritional support to help maintain healthy blood pressure levels. You may also want to consider electrolyte replacement such as LMNT which contains 200mg of Potassium. Ask your healthcare provider for guidance on dosing.
