Should You Take a Potassium Supplement? Recommendations and Safety

Should I Take a Potassium Supplement?

Should I Take a Potassium Supplement?
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Updated on August 7, 2025
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You need potassium to support just about every bodily function, including a beating heart. It is readily available in many foods, but there are a few situations in which your doctor may recommend a potassium supplement.

Here’s everything you need to know about supplementing with this essential mineral.

Why Is Potassium Important?

Potassium is one of the minerals that your body needs to work properly. It’s an electrolyte, critical to muscle contraction and to your nerves’ ability to fire. You also need potassium to:

  • Regulate fluid and mineral balance in your body’s cells
  • Maintain normal blood pressure
  • Reduce the risk of recurrent kidney stones
  • Mitigate bone loss as you get older
Potassium also helps with nerve transmission, heartbeat regulation, muscle contraction, and much more.

Which Foods Contain Potassium?

Potassium is present in many foods that are a part of a regular, healthy diet, meaning you probably don’t need to supplement with potassium if you regularly eat a variety of these foods:

  • Fruits (especially jackfruit, dried apricots, prunes, raisins, and bananas)
  • Vegetables (especially beet greens, acorn squash, potatoes, spinach, and broccoli)
  • Lentils (especially kidney beans, soybeans, and nuts)
  • Milk and yogurt
  • Meats, poultry, and fish

So, Is a Supplement Necessary?

The National Institutes of Health recommends that adults get between 2,500 and 3,400 milligrams of potassium daily.

 Women should aim for the lower end of the range (2,600 milligrams) and men for the higher end (3,400 milligrams).
Most people can get the potassium they need by consuming a healthy diet full of lean meats, whole grains, fresh produce, beans and nuts, and low-fat dairy. Those at risk of potassium deficiency include:

  • People with Crohn’s disease or another form of inflammatory bowel disease
  • People with eating disorders, including pica (meaning they eat things that aren’t food, such as dirt)
  • People taking certain medications, such as some diuretics and laxatives

Talk to your doctor if you have reason to believe you may not be getting enough potassium.

What Kinds of Supplements Are Available?

Supplements are available as potassium chloride, potassium gluconate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium aspartate, potassium orotate, and potassium citrate. Multivitamin-mineral supplements may also contain potassium, but never more than 99 milligrams of potassium per serving.

Supplements with higher levels of potassium are available, but usually only as prescriptions from a doctor.

If you’re a healthy person who is concerned about not getting enough potassium, focus on food first. It’s likely you can reach your daily recommended intake of the mineral through dietary sources, such as dried apricots, baked potatoes, and raisins.

Can You Overdose on Potassium?

If you consume potassium from food, it shouldn’t cause any side effects, unless you have abnormal kidney function.

Your kidneys are skilled at regulating your potassium level, and they excrete extra amounts of the mineral through your urine. People with chronic kidney disease or who use certain medications can develop hyperkalemia, or abnormal levels of potassium in their blood. Even the typical amounts of potassium found in food can be a problem for people with certain conditions.

If you have kidney problems, your doctor can help you develop a diet that will reduce the risk of hyperkalemia.

The Takeaway

  • Critical for heart, nerve, and muscle function, potassium is widely found in healthy foods.
  • Most people get enough of it from their diet, but doctor-prescribed supplements can help those at risk of deficiency (due to certain medications, for example).
  • The kidneys regulate potassium from food well, but those with kidney issues must carefully manage their intake to avoid high levels.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. What Is Potassium? Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. March 2021.
  2. Potassium: Fact Sheet for Consumers. National Institutes of Health: Office of Dietary Supplements. March 22, 2021.
  3. Food Sources of Potassium. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
  4. Simon L et al. Potassium. Oregon State University: Linus Pauling Institute. April 2019.
  5. Diuretics: A Cause of Low Potassium? Mayo Clinic. April 2024.
  6. Simon L et al. Hyperkalemia. StatPearls. September 2023.
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Kara Andrew, RDN, LDN

Medical Reviewer
Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Kara Andrew, RDN, LDN, is the director of health promotion for Memorial Hospital in Carthage, Illinois. She is also licensed as an exercise physiologist and certified in lifestyle medicine by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Her experience includes corporate wellness, teaching for the American College of Sports Medicine, sports nutrition, weight management, integrative medicine, oncology support, and dialysis.

She earned her master's in exercise and nutrition science at Lipscomb University.

Andrew has served as a president and board member of the Nashville Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She was recently elected a co-chair of the fitness and medicine group in the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

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Andrea Boldt

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Andrea Boldt has been in the fitness industry for more than 20 years. A personal trainer, run coach, group fitness instructor and master yoga teacher, she also holds certifications in holistic and fitness nutrition.

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