Compound or practice · Supplement
Potassium
Most people eat too little and too much sodium — shifting the ratio lowers blood pressure.
- Overall grade
- Grade B
- Last revised
- 2
- graded outcomes
- 0
- references listed
A structured monograph in Prometheus's bundled library. Its grades are the monograph's own reading of the evidence, not a peer-reviewed review.
3 at grade B — 3 graded rows
What is known
Each outcome with its grade (how strong the evidence is, A to D), the size of the effect where the entry records one, and how often studies agree.
- Blood pressureEvidence grade B
Especially salt-sensitive/hypertensive
Moderatehigh
- Stroke (salt substitute)Evidence grade B
Reduced in large trial
Moderatehigh
Conditions
How the entry reads its effect on diagnosed conditions: the direction first, then the grade. Never a substitute for the person who treats you.
- Hypertension ImprovesEvidence grade BVia sodium-potassium balanceGrade B
What is uncertain
Read off the same rows as above. Nothing here is added that the entry does not itself record.
- Caution with Blood-pressure medications: With ACE inhibitors/ARBs/K-sparing diuretics, risk of dangerous hyperkalemia.
Interactions
Documented pairings with supplements and medicines. A medicine on this list is a conversation for whoever prescribes it.
Blood-pressure medicationsCaution
With ACE inhibitors/ARBs/K-sparing diuretics, risk of dangerous hyperkalemia.
The evidence in words
What it is
Potassium is the main intracellular electrolyte, the counterweight to sodium. Modern diets are low in it (few fruits, vegetables, legumes) and high in sodium, and that imbalance drives blood pressure up.
How it works
Potassium promotes sodium excretion, relaxes blood-vessel walls, and sets resting membrane potential in nerve and muscle. Raising dietary potassium counteracts sodium's pressor effect.
What the evidence shows
Increasing potassium intake modestly lowers blood pressure, especially in salt-sensitive and hypertensive people — grade B and endorsed by major dietary guidance. The right route is food (or potassium-based salt substitutes, which cut stroke risk in trials), because high-dose potassium pills are deliberately capped for safety.
How to use it
Get it from fruits, vegetables, legumes, and potatoes; potassium salt substitutes are an evidence-backed swap for table salt. Supplement pills are limited to ~99 mg in many markets and are not the main lever.
Safety & interactions
Dangerous in excess for people with kidney disease or on potassium-sparing diuretics, ACE inhibitors, or ARBs — it can cause life-threatening hyperkalemia. Food-based increases are safe for healthy kidneys. antihypertensives — With ACE inhibitors/ARBs/K-sparing diuretics, risk of dangerous hyperkalemia.
Bottom line
Eat more plants and consider a potassium salt substitute — that's the blood-pressure win. Skip high-dose potassium pills unless a clinician directs, and never combine salt substitutes with potassium-raising drugs unmonitored.
How it is used
As the entry records it, from the studies it summarises. Not a recommendation for you — doses that suit a trial population may not suit you.
- Food-first
- Fruits, vegetables, legumes; potassium salt substitute.
Related reading
Entries that share this one's tags or conditions.
- Potassium for Blood pressureEvidence grade B — Especially salt-sensitive/hypertensiveEvidence grade B
- Potassium for HypertensionEvidence grade B — Via sodium-potassium balanceEvidence grade B
- Potassium for Stroke (salt substitute)Evidence grade B — Reduced in large trialEvidence grade B
- Potassium: dosage and how to take itFruits, vegetables, legumes; potassium salt substitute.Evidence grade B
Sources
This entry lists no references of its own.
Last revised . A grade is this entry's reading of the evidence, not medical advice.