Potassium Citrate - Find Out All You Wanted To Know About Its Role on Health and How to Benefit From Potassium Supplements

What is potassium citrate? What role does it play on our health and what are its deficiency symptoms? How much potassium do you need daily and what are the potassium rich foods? How to choose a quality supplement? Find out the answers here.

Potassium citrate is that form of potassium that is easily digestible and is found in high quality nutritional supplements.

Let us look at what potassium is and what is the role played by it in the health of our body? Then we can look at what causes potassium deficiency and what are the foods rich in potassium.

What is Potassium?

Our body requires potassium as it is one of the essential minerals and plays a crucial role in maintaining water balance, as well as many other functions such as nerve transmission, proper muscle function and maintaining healthy kidneys and heart.

Almost 95% of all potassium found within our body is located in the cells and it works together with sodium (which is found outside the cells). They both work together to regulate important functions that are essential for optimal physical health such as:

• Reducing the risk of development of kidney stones
• Maintaining healthy and normal blood pressure
• Offsetting the adverse effects of common salt on health
• Prevention of osteoporosis

Potassium also helps in preventing heart disease and premenstrual tension.

In our body, potassium is regulated by the kidneys and any excess is eliminated through urination.

What is the Role of Potassium Citrate? What does it do?

Potassium citrate or potassium -- regulates the water content in our body. Besides that, it also plays a key role in the following functions:

• Supports effective nerve transmissions
• Regulates electric impulses of our heart, which helps to keep blood pressure in control
• Regulates the use of proteins and carbohydrates in our body

How Much Potassium Do We Need Daily?

On a daily basis, we need at least 2000-4000 mcg or 4.7 grams of potassium.

Research shows that the average American women of the age between 31 and 50 are consuming less than 50% of the daily potassium requirements needed for the maintenance of optimal health.

On the other hand, American men are consuming only slightly higher potassium levels. The average American diet contains 1500 to 5000 mcg of potassium per day.

Potassium Deficiency

So, why is it important to get adequate amount of potassium citrate or potassium daily?

As you already know that potassium and sodium play a vital role in water retention in our body. So, an imbalance in the homeostasis between sodium and potassium can cause:

• Water retention or dehydration
• Kidney stones
• Heart related illnesses
• Weakness in muscles
• Confused mental thought process
• Irritability in personality

A deficiency of potassium is also considered as one of the causes behind the debilitating and painful disease rheumatoid arthritis.

Symptoms of Potassium Deficiency

Among the major symptoms of potassium deficiency include:

• Irregular blood pressure (sometimes slow and sometimes high)
• Tiredness
• Acne
• Muscle weakness
• Dry eyes
• Irritability
• Irregular heartbeats
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Confusion
• Insomnia
• Joint and bone pain
• Frail skeletal structure
• Decreased reflexes
• Constipation
• High cholesterol
• Edema
• Water retention

Some of the other potassium deficiency symptoms are: respiratory problems, excretion of protein in urine, excessive thirst, in adequate growth, headaches and infertility.

You should definitely consider taking a potassium citrate supplement if your regular diet proves to be an adequate for your body's daily potassium needs.

Who are at Risk of Potassium Deficiency? Do You Need Potassium Supplements?

You should consider taking a potassium supplement if the following factors apply to you --

1. If you exercise excessively - as perspiration causes a significant loss of body fluid which leads to the loss of potassium.
2. Potassium deficiency causes a loss of calcium. This makes women susceptible to osteoporosis.
3. Potassium deficiency often occurs in individuals who suffer from frequent bouts of diarrhea.
4. Certain type of medications are known to create potassium deficiency. Similarly, a poor diet or any activities that cause excessive loss of body fluids also lead to deficiency of this vital mineral.

Potassium Rich Foods

Although you might be considering taking potassium supplements for optimal health, consuming foods that are high in potassium should definitely not be neglected. A lot of people wrongly assume that just by taking a pill they can overcome all sort of dietary lapses!

Here are the foods that are rich in potassium that you can add to your diet, and can hopefully avoid any potassium deficiency:

• Mushrooms
• Fennel (bulb)
• Bananas
• Orange juice
• Boiled chard
• Romaine lettuce
• Boiled mustard greens
• Raw celery
• Raw cauliflower
• Winter and summer squash
• Raw broccoli
• Ripe tomatoes
• Raw carrots
• Cooked turnip greens
• Boiled collard greens
• Eggplant
• Raw cabbage
• Cantaloupe
• Papaya
• Boiled beets
• Green beans
• Fresh kale
• Yam
• Brussels sprouts

Potassium Overdose

Some people do not really need a potassium supplement. For example, individuals suffering from kidney diseases or kidney failure should not take additional potassium supplements besides their regular diet.

Besides that, individuals who are taking medications to restrict potassium should also not take potassium citrate supplements unless under the strict supervision of their doctor.

Avoid taking salt-substitute products. These also contain additional potassium. Some symptoms that indicate excessive potassium consumption in the body include: irregular heartbeat and blood pressure, and an upset stomach.

Besides that, individuals taking anti-inflammatory or painkiller drugs should avoid taking potassium supplements, except on the advice of their physician.

Tips on Choosing the Best Potassium Citrate Supplement

1) The nutritional supplements industry in the US is largely unregulated. Consumers have only a 20% chance of actually purchasing a product with exactly the ingredients specified on the label.

Therefore, our recommendation is that you purchase supplements only from manufacturers that adhere to the pharmaceutical GMP guidelines. These are the highest standards in the manufacturing of dietary and herbal supplements.

2) Make sure that Supplements you purchase to not contain any types of additives or fillers (such as starch, sugar, gluten, silica (sand!)) or any flavors or artificial colors.

Your health depends exclusively on what type of nutrition you provide to your body, so why not choose the best?

A Comprehensive Potassium Supplement

Among the many pharmaceutical companies, one company that fulfills all the above mentioned criteria -- and much more -- is Xtend-Life natural products of New Zealand.

New Zealand is a country which has one of the strictest regulatory standards in the world as far as the manufacture of nutritional supplements is concerned. Its standards far exceed those specified by the US FDA.

The flagship product of Xtend-Life called - Total Balance contains potassium citrate, plus a wide variety of minerals, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, potent herbal extracts and a range of other speciality nutrients.

In fact, it contains almost all the nutrients that have been covered on this entire site!

We have been taking Total Balance for the past few years and have achieved excellent results such as:

• Increased energy levels
• Enhanced mental clarity and sharpness
• A general feeling of better health and well-being