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Old 08-21-2023, 07:03 AM
Bill14564 Bill14564 is offline
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Originally Posted by retiredguy123 View Post
The Government recently revised the daily recommendation for potassium up to 4,700 mg. I was eating a banana every day, which has 420 mg, but I quickly got tired of eating them. Most of the supplement pills in the drug stores have only 99 mg, which is only 2 percent of the Government recommendation. Why? I did find some pills on Amazon that have more than 99 mg, but I don't know if they are safe.
Taking more potassium and magnesium seems to help to prevent leg cramps. But, can someone please explain how a person is supposed to get 4,700 mg of potassium?
Interesting.

The article linked above questioning the evidence behind Potassium recommendations was written in 2018 and questions whether 4,700mg is truly required.

NIH has a page from 2021 which recommends 3,400mg. This page also acknowledges that normal diets for most Americans don't include the recommended level.

Then there is a 2022 FDA page on Daily Values that increases the recommendation from 3,400 to 4,700.

2018 paper: 4,700: Little evidence and most people not getting that much
2021 NIH: 3,400: Most people not getting that much
2022 FDA: 4,700:

Various lists of items containing potassium: I don't eat a cup of beans, I don't often eat a large baked potato with skin, a cup of mashed avocado would require a lot of chips and tequila, a cup of yogurt is a lot, and I don't remember the last time I had beets. If I ate ALL OF THAT EVERY DAY it still wouldn't meet the 4,700 recommendation unless I washed it down with a cup of orange juice.

I am going to have to accept that I'm not getting the recommended level of potassium.
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Why do people insist on making claims without looking them up first, do they really think no one will check? Proof by emphatic assertion rarely works.
Confirmation bias is real; I can find any number of articles that say so.


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