Low potassium levels can cause symptoms like fatigue and frequent urination. Increasing your intake of potassium-rich foods, like fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts, may help.
Potassium is an essential mineral that plays many roles in the body. It helps regulate muscle contractions, maintain healthy nerve function, and regulate fluid balance.
Despite its importance, it’s estimated that most adults don’t meet their daily needs. This is likely due to the Western-style diet, which favors processed foods over whole plant foods that are high in potassium — such as fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts.
Low potassium, or potassium deficiency, is when your blood potassium level is below
Keep reading to learn more about potassium deficiency, including its causes and symptoms.
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Here are 7 signs and symptoms of potassium deficiency.
Weakness and fatigue
Weakness and fatigue are
- when blood potassium levels are low, your muscles produce weaker contractions
- a deficiency may affect how your body uses nutrients in a way that can result in fatigue
For example, some evidence shows that a deficiency
Muscle weakness and cramps
Muscle cramps are sudden, uncontrolled contractions of the muscles. They can occur when blood potassium levels are low and can be painful.
Within skeletal muscle, potassium helps relay signals from your brain to stimulate contractions. It also helps end these contractions by leaving the muscle cells. When blood potassium levels are low, your brain cannot relay these signals as effectively.
This results in more prolonged contractions and is thought to contribute to muscle cramps. Cramps are unlikely to occur with mild or moderate hypokalemia, but they may happen with severe hypokalemia of less than
Digestive problems
While digestive problems have many causes, they may occur with severe hypokalemia.
Potassium helps relay signals from your brain to muscles located in the digestive system known as smooth muscle. These signals stimulate contractions that help your digestive system churn and propel food, so it can be digested.
With low potassium levels, contractions in the digestive system may become weaker and slow the movement of food. This could cause digestive problems like bloating and constipation.
Abnormal heartbeat
Potassium also plays a vital role in maintaining healthy heart muscle contractions.
This is because the flow of potassium in and out of heart cells helps regulate your heartbeat. Low blood potassium levels
Heart arrhythmias can also be a sign of a serious heart condition. If you notice any abnormal changes to your heart rate, seek immediate medical attention.
Tingling and numbness
Though more common in people with high potassium, or hyperkalemia, those with potassium deficiency may also experience persistent tingles and numbness.
This is known as paresthesia and usually occurs in the hands, arms, legs, and feet.
Potassium is important for healthy nerve function. Low blood levels can weaken nerve signals and result in tingling and numbness.
While occasionally experiencing these symptoms is harmless — like if your foot falls asleep from lack of movement or sitting in an awkward position — persistent tingles and numbness may be a sign of an underlying condition.
If you experience this, it’s can be helpful to speak with doctor.
Polyuria (frequent urination)
Polyuria is a condition where you pee more than usual.
The kidneys are responsible for balancing your body’s fluid and electrolyte levels and removing any waste through the urine.
Low potassium levels
Excessive urination may lead to lower levels of potassium. Therefore, it’s important to speak with a doctor if you notice a sudden change in how often you urinate.
High blood pressure
Having the perfect balance of electrolytes is important for maintaining healthy blood pressure.
You may be aware that consuming too much sodium can increase blood pressure in some people. Yet, few people know that too little potassium in the diet can have the same effect.
Potassium helps your kidneys get rid of excess sodium via urine. If there isn’t enough potassium in the blood, the kidneys reabsorb sodium back into the bloodstream, potentially
This most often occurs with a low dietary intake of potassium — and specifically with hypokalemia.
Therefore, getting enough potassium in your diet may help maintain healthy blood pressure in some individuals.
While it’s generally rare to develop potassium deficiency,
- chronic diarrhea, which can be caused by the overuse of diuretics or laxatives, irritable bowel disease, or infections
- certain medications, such as diuretic drugs
- eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, purging, or laxative abuse
- under-eating or malnutrition
- Cushing’s syndrome
- hyperaldosteronism, where there is excess aldosterone, a steroid hormone, in the blood
- kidney failure
- kidney disorders, such as Bartter syndrome, Gitelman syndrome, and Fanconi syndrome.
- hypomagnesemia (low magnesium levels)
- excessive sweating
If you’re taking certain medications for kidney disease, such as diuretics, and you suspect your potassium is low, consider speaking with a healthcare professional. They can review your blood tests and adjust your medications or diet as needed.
If you’ve experienced chronic fluid loss or have misused any medications, seek immediate medical attention.
In most cases, hypokalemia will need to be treated by a healthcare professional.
Mild to moderate hypokalemia is typically treated with oral potassium supplements. In some cases, a healthcare professional may also need to adjust any other medications or treat underlying causes, like diarrhea, vomiting, or eating disorders.
A potassium-rich diet is usually not enough to treat hypokalemia, since most potassium in food is paired with phosphate, not potassium chloride. Hypokalemia often also involves a chloride deficiency, so it’s best to treat both deficiencies with potassium chloride supplements.
Usually,
In severe hypokalemia cases, intravenous (IV) treatment may be recommended. This should be strictly monitored by a healthcare professional due to the high risk of rebound hyperkalemia, or high potassium, which can be fatal.
Should you take potassium supplements?
Self-treatment of hypokalemia with over-the-counter (OTC) potassium supplements is not recommended.
This is because taking too much potassium can cause excess amounts of the mineral to build up in the blood,
Unless they’re prescribed by a healthcare professional, and you’re being closely monitored, you should avoid taking potassium supplements.
Though diet alone usually will not resolve hypokalemia, it’s still beneficial to increase your intake of potassium-rich foods, like fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recommended daily intake (RDI) for potassium is
However, as around 90% of potassium is absorbed from food, the percent of the Daily Value (DV) listed on food labels remains at 4,700 mg. Keep this in mind to help you ensure you’re consuming enough.
Here’s a table of foods that are excellent sources of potassium:
Serving size | Potassium content | % of the Daily Value (DV) | |
---|---|---|---|
Dried apricots | 1 cup (130 grams) | 1,511 mg | 32% |
Cooked lentils | 1 cup (198 grams) | 731 mg | 16% |
Cooked acorn squash | 1 cup (205 grams) | 896 mg | 19% |
Cooked potato | 1 medium (136 grams) | 515 mg | 11% |
Canned kidney beans | 1 cup (180 grams) | 779 mg | 17% |
Orange juice | 1 cup (249 mL) | 443 mg | 9% |
Banana | 1 medium (118 grams) | 422 mg | 9% |
Milk (1% fat) | 1 cup (244 mL) | 388 mg | 8% |
Tomato | 1 medium (100 grams) | 260 mg | 6% |
Brewed coffee | 1 cup (240 mL) | 118 mg | 3% |
While increasing your potassium intake won’t likely raise your low potassium levels, eating a potassium-rich diet is still beneficial to your health.
Few people meet the daily recommended potassium intake, which is 3,400 mg for males and 2,600 mg for females.
Nevertheless, hypokalemia is rarely caused by dietary deficiency alone. It can be caused by a number of factors, including fluid loss, malnutrition, shock, using certain medications, and medical conditions like kidney failure.
Common signs and symptoms of potassium deficiency include:
- weakness and fatigue
- muscle cramps
- stiffness
- tingles and numbness
If you think you may be deficient, it’s important to speak with a healthcare professional. Potassium deficiency can have serious health consequences.
If you notice any sudden changes in your breathing or heartbeat, seek immediate medical attention.
Just one thing
Try this today: Aim to have 2–3 potassium-rich foods each day. For example, a banana for breakfast, 1/2 cup (130 grams) of kidney beans at lunch, and white potatoes on your dinner plate.