Potassium: The Traffic Control System
On your commute to work, you suddenly see brake lights ahead. 100s of them. You stomp the brakes and slowly come to the realization that your lane is ending and everyone is merging to one lane.
Eventually you know there’s construction going on and traffic continues to be halted. There’s too many cars trying to use one lane with nowhere to go. Horns beep and frustration builds.
At first thought, it’s a traffic problem. In reality, it’s that the road is too narrow. All that traffic isn’t an issue when the lanes are 5 lanes wide. But compress it down to one lane and now there’s a jam.
This is similar to how your blood pressure responds to constricting blood vessels. We often blame salt for causing more traffic, but a lack of potassium is a potential cause for the vessels constricting.
Let’s discuss why this matters, how it happens and what you can do about it.
Potassium Intake And Blood Pressure:
When it comes to managing blood pressure, much of the focus is on sodium. But today we’re talking all about potassium. And most people don’t get enough in their diet. Here’s why that’s a problem:
This metanalysis concluded that increased potassium intake reduced blood pressure in individuals with hypertension and a higher potassium intake was associated with a 24% lower risk of stroke.
This study showed that 4.7 grams of potassium intake daily created an average of 8.0/4.1 mm Hg reduction in blood pressure. That effect was even greater in individuals eating a higher amount of sodium.
And finally this 20 year follow up study concluded that low potassium intake was associated with an increased risk of all cause mortality regardless of other health markers.
So if something can help lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of stroke and help you live longer, it’s time to pay attention. But outside of a Gatorade commercial, we don’t hear much about potassium.
How Potassium Works:
Sodium-Potassium Pump
We’ll start with the “sodium-potassium pump". This gets a little nerdy but let’s simplify it. Every cell in your body has a membrane around it like a castle has walls. The wall let’s some things in and stops the rest from entering. The sodium potassium pump is like active soldiers carrying sodium and potassium across the membrane. Every time it’s active, the pump lets 3 sodium (Na+) molecules in and 2 potassium (K+) molecules in.
Since you are pumping out 3 positive ions (Na+) and only bringing in 2 positive ions (K+) this keeps a negative charge on the inside of the membrane (ICF) compared to the outside (ECF) . The difference in charge is known as the resting membrane potential. Maintaining this resting membrane potential keeps the cells functioning properly.
Most people get plenty of sodium in their diet but lack potassium. And since this pump exists in every cell in the body, you can imagine how things could get out of whack with a constant intake imbalance. Eventually this lowers your intracellular potassium levels which interferes with the resting membrane potential.
Vasoconstriction and dilation:
Muscle cells make up more than just your biceps. The everyday muscles you think of are made up of skeletal muscle. But smooth muscle makes up the lining of your blood vessels and this determines whether they are constricted and narrow when contracted or dilated and wide when relaxed. Using our analogy from earlier, constricted and congested roads with fewer driving lanes = higher blood pressure. Wide lanes from dilated blood vessels reduce pressure and allow for easier flow of traffic.
Proper balance of potassium and sodium and a properly functioning pump ensure that the traffic flows appropriately. Like a good traffic controller, it keeps blood flow moving efficiently.
Last week we discussed how insulin works to constrict blood vessels by inhibiting nitric oxide, but potassium has the opposite effect. Potassium activates the release of nitric oxide allowing it to appropriately dilate blood vessels, thus lowering blood pressure.
Fluid retention:
Working as the perfect compliment to sodium, potassium works to regulate fluid retention. Proper levels of potassium will actually help excrete sodium to rebalance the system. This helps reduce fluid retention. It removes excess fluid outside of the cells and less water means reduced blood pressure. Many of the alleged negative effects of too much sodium (from insulin resistance) can also be tied to LOW levels of potassium due to their opposing effects.
What To Do About It?
98% of Americans don’t eat the recommended amount of potassium in a day. That’s because unlike sodium, it’s not included in the majority of processed foods. And while supplementation can be an option, it would be negligent to recommend across the board. How much you should eat is going to vary dramatically based on height, weight, activity level, occupation and time of the year as potassium is lost in sweat.
While I focused on having too little potassium there are risks to having too much. Hyperkalemia (too much potassium) can cause arrhythmias and cardiac arrest so I always recommend getting it from natural foods rather than risking errors in dosages with direct potassium supplementation.
You know about bananas but they are actually average as far as potassium content. A medium potato for example has twice the potassium as a banana.
Other good sources include tomatoes, greens, citrus fruits, beans and carrots.
It may surprise you but meat and many proteins are a quality source of potassium with 3 oz of your typical fish, beef, venison or pork containing a similar quantity (300 mg).
Finally, my favorite source of potassium is unsweetened coconut water. You can get nearly 10% of the recommended daily dose for about 30 calories per serving. Hard to beat that level of efficiency while keeping calorie intake and convenience in mind.
Summary:
- Proper potassium intake keeps the sodium-potassium pump functioning properly
- The sodium-potassium pump helps normalize nerve and muscle function in the body
- Nerve and smooth muscle function keeps blood vessels dilated and blood flowing efficiently
- Increased potassium intake via diet is correlated with lower blood pressure, stroke risk and mortality
- Much of the negatives you’ve heard about too much sodium can be tied to insulin resistance (discussed last week) or low potassium intake.
- Meat, beans, green veggies, potatoes, tomatoes and coconut water are some of the best sources of potassium
Tuesday we’ll discuss how to get the most out of your resistance training using the concept of “effective reps”.
Until then,
Brett
Brother2Brother
“Why did grandpa keep his money in the freezer? … He wanted cold, hard cash”
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