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Summary

Potassium is a mineral that your body needs to work properly. It is a type of electrolyte. It helps your nerves to function and muscles to contract. It helps your heartbeat stay regular. It also helps move nutrients into cells and waste products out of cells. A diet rich in potassium helps to offset some of sodium's harmful effects on blood pressure.

Many people get all the potassium they need from what they eat and drink. Sources of potassium in the diet include:

• Leafy greens, such as spinach and collards
• Fruit from vines, such as grapes and blackberries
• Root vegetables, such as carrots and potatoes
• Citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruit

Your kidneys help to keep the right amount of potassium in your body. If you have chronic kidney disease, your kidneys may not remove extra potassium from the blood. Some medicines also can raise your potassium level. You may need a special diet to lower the amount of potassium that you eat.

Start Here

• Potassium (National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements) Also in Spanish
• What is Potassium? (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Potassium Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Diuretics: A Cause of Low Potassium? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Potassium (Harvard School of Public Health)
• Potassium in Your CKD Diet (National Kidney Foundation)

Specifics

• How Potassium Can Help Control High Blood Pressure (American Heart Association)
• Hyperkalemia (High Potassium) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Low Potassium (Hypokalemia) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Hypokalemia (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Potassium (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Association between blood pressure control in hypertension and urine sodium to...
• Article: Association between admission baseline blood potassium levels and all-cause mortality in...
• Potassium -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Find a Nutrition Expert (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)
• Food and Drug Administration
• Food and Nutrition Information Center
• National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements

Patient Handouts

• Hypokalemic periodic paralysis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Low blood potassium (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Potassium in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Potassium test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Potassium urine test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish