4 ms·

As I mentioned in a sibling comment, 68% of US people are Mg deficient, 3% are K deficient. And considering how many are hypertensive, K supplementation, which

As I mentioned in a sibling comment, 68% of US people are Mg deficient, 3% are K deficient. And considering how many are hypertensive, K supplementation, which is already tricky, needs an even bigger caveat, as many hypertensive medications are potassium sparing, thus supplementation should _not_ be done without medical supervision. I agree that it's tricky to test, and the science around potassium metabolism with HTN medication is confusing and contradicting: you can find studies for the same medication that say it's potassium sparing and another that says that hypokalemia is a common side effect. You can have vegetables containing potassium, sure, but it's a bit of a stretch to say that potassium deficiency is widespread, in general and supplementation of it is discouraged.

commoner 5y ago
> 68% of US people are Mg deficient, 3% are K deficient My comment said that "only 3% of people in the U.S. consume adequate levels of potassium in their diet according to the most recent NHANES survey", which means that 97% of U.S. people (100% - 3%) have diets that are deficient in potassium (K). > And considering how many are hypertensive Excess sodium and insufficient potassium in the diet contribute to hypertension, not the other way around.[1][2] In contrast to potassium, 89% of U.S. adults and 90% of U.S. children exceeded maximum recommended sodium intake levels in the 2009–2012 NHANES survey.[3] With almost everyone in the U.S. consuming too much sodium and too little potassium, the high prevalence of hypertension (29% of U.S. adults as of 2011–2012) is not surprising![3] [1] http://cardiacos.net/wp-content/uploads/ArticulosMedicos/2007/2007-Sodium-and-Potassium-in-the-Pathogenesis.pdf http://cardiacos.net/wp-content/uploads/ArticulosMedicos/200... (PDF) [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224208/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224208/ [3] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6452a1.htm https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6452a1.htm

commoner 5y ago

> 68% of US people are Mg deficient, 3% are K deficient My comment said that "only 3% of people in the U.S. consume adequate levels of potassium in their diet according to the most recent NHANES survey", which means that 97% of U.S. people (100% - 3%) have diets that are deficient in potassium (K). > And considering how many are hypertensive Excess sodium and insufficient potassium in the diet contribute to hypertension, not the other way around.[1][2] In contrast to potassium, 89% of U.S. adults and 90% of U.S. children exceeded maximum recommended sodium intake levels in the 2009–2012 NHANES survey.[3] With almost everyone in the U.S. consuming too much sodium and too little potassium, the high prevalence of hypertension (29% of U.S. adults as of 2011–2012) is not surprising![3] [1] http://cardiacos.net/wp-content/uploads/ArticulosMedicos/2007/2007-Sodium-and-Potassium-in-the-Pathogenesis.pdf http://cardiacos.net/wp-content/uploads/ArticulosMedicos/200... (PDF) [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224208/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4224208/ [3] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6452a1.htm https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6452a1.htm