What is potassium?
Potassium is a mineral and electrolyte that is found in most foods. Your body needs it for many things, so it is important to keep potassium at a healthy level in your body. Having too much or too little potassium is very serious and can even be deadly if not treated.
Potassium plays an important role in helping your muscles expand and contract. Your heart is a muscle, so when your body’s potassium is at a healthy level, it helps your heart beat the right way.
Most foods have potassium, but some foods, such as bananas, have more than others. Foods that are high in potassium include:
- Fruits and vegetables
- Beans
- Nuts
- Dairy
- Fish and red meat
If you have kidney disease, your doctor may have said that you need to lower the amount of potassium in your kidney-friendly eating plan.
How to Lower Potassium
Download the potassium food guide for lower potassium foods that can still be tasty options.
Ask your doctor about medicine options like potassium binders. These are medicines that keep your body from absorbing potassium in your food or drinks.
What is high potassium (hyperkalemia)?
High potassium is called hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia is a chronic condition, meaning it is long-lasting. If you have kidney disease, you are at risk for high potassium. Here is how this works:
1
Your kidneys cannot remove the extra potassium in your blood.
2
Instead of leaving your body through your urine, the extra potassium in your blood travels through your kidneys and back into your bloodstream.
3
Over time, more and more potassium can build up in your blood.
Having too much potassium in your blood can be dangerous. High potassium can even cause a heart attack or death! This is why managing high potassium is important.
Download our Hyperkalemia Guidelines to help you learn how to manage and treat your high potassium levels.
Symptoms of high potassium
Unfortunately, many people do not feel symptoms of high potassium until it is too late, and their heart health worsens.
If you do feel symptoms, some of the most common are:
1
Feeling tired or weak
2
Feeling sick to your stomach (Nausea)
3
Muscle pains or cramps
4
Trouble breathing, unusual heartbeat, chest pains
Testing for High Potassium
Your doctor can do a simple blood test to tell you if you have high potassium. However, blood tests only show how much potassium is in your blood at the moment you had the test, not over an entire week or month. So, it is important to talk to your doctor about how you can best manage your potassium levels over time and if any of your medicines could affect your levels. For example, some blood pressure medicines, like RAAS inhibitors could raise your potassium levels. ACE inhibitors and ARBs are common RAAS inhibitors.
Keeping your potassium at a safe level should be a long-term goal, not a short-term one. Download these tools and sign up to get more tips to your email.
Guides
- Hyperkalemia (High Potassium) & Kidney Disease
Learn more about hyperkalemia with this infographic. - Potassium & Kidney Disease
Learn about the impact of potassium on your kidneys.
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What causes high potassium?
When you have kidney disease, some of the most common causes of high potassium are:
- Eating high-potassium foods
- Using a salt substitute that contains potassium (They have around 800 mg of potassium per ¼ teaspoon!)
- Constipation
- High blood sugars
- Missing dialysis treatments
- Taking some medicines or herbal supplements
- Some blood pressure medicines (like ACE inhibitors and ARBs) can raise the level of potassium in your body
*Always talk with your doctor before taking any herbal supplement that could interact with your medicines or medical conditions.
What is a high potassium food?
Most Fish
Chocolate
Dairy products
Milk, cheese, yogurt
Most meats
Fruits
Bananas, grapefruits, oranges, cantaloupes, raisins, and other dried fruits
Beans
Black beans, pinto beans, baked beans
Nuts
Peanuts and peanut butter
Vegetables
Potatoes, brussels sprouts, tomatoes, asparagus, and cooked spinach
Low-potassium foods
Veggies
Cauliflower, peppers, cucumbers
Bread
Rice
Pasta
Fruits
Find low-potassium recipes in our recipe library
If you are on dialysis or your doctor has recommended that you eat low-potassium foods, you should aim for a daily potassium goal of 2,500 mg and no more than 3,000 mg per day. Your doctor or dietitian may adjust these goals to fit your needs.
For help figuring out which foods are high in potassium or low in potassium check out our guides.
Potassium Food Guide –
A comprehensive guide of the amount of potassium in many common foods.
Food Labels & Potassium –
A guide to understand food labels which are full of important information about what you eat and drink.
Low vs. High-Potassium Foods –
A helpful guide which shows examples of foods that are low or high in potassium.
How can I manage and treat high potassium?
Choose the right foods
You can control high potassium long-term by choosing the right foods. Sometimes even one food item can make a big difference in your potassium level. Ask your doctor and dietitian to help you create a potassium management plan. Call your insurance company to find out if your insurance plan covers nutrition counseling, called medical nutrition therapy.
Ask your doctor about medicines
If you are concerned about having limited food options, talk to your doctor about certain medicines, such as:
- Potassium binders, which “bind” to the extra potassium in your body and remove it. These can allow you to safely eat a wider variety of healthy foods with less worry about your potassium levels.
- Water pills (diuretics), which help your body get rid of extra potassium by making your kidneys create more urine. Potassium is normally removed through urine.
Track your Potassium
You have the power to track how much potassium goes into your body every
day by:
- Using the potassium tracker to record the amount of potassium in your food
- Logging when you take your potassium binder
What if I’m the caregiver of someone with high potassium?
If you take care of someone with high potassium and you manage the grocery shopping or cooking, you can help them track their potassium.
Download the potassium tracker and work with them to measure how much potassium they get from their food.
Potassium Tracker
Use the potassium tracker to record the amount of potassium in the foods you eat, and also log when you take your potassium binder.
Medicines for high potassium
Potassium Binders
To manage your potassium, you might be able to take a potassium binder. Potassium binders allow you to eat a wider variety of healthy food with less worry about your potassium levels.
Here is how potassium binders work:
- Potassium binders stick to the potassium in your body
- This prevents some potassium from moving into your bloodstream
- This way, potassium won’t build up in your blood
Potassium binders come in a powder, which you can mix with water to drink.
You must follow the instructions from your doctor carefully when taking potassium binders. If you have had side effects of potassium binders in the past, there are new options available.
Talk to your doctor about finding a potassium binder that is right for you.
Medicine Tracker
Use the guide to better understand your medicine and use the tracker to help manage them.Watch how potassium binders work
Guides
- Keeping your potassium in balance
Download this guide to learn more about managing high potassium with potassium binders.
Talk to your doctor if you take blood pressure medicines
If you have kidney disease, there is a high chance that you also take medicine to control your blood pressure, such as a RAAS inhibitor. ACE inhibitors and ARBs are common RAAS inhibitors.
These can work very well to keep your blood pressure from getting too high and to protect your heart. A side effect of RAAS inhibitors is that they can raise potassium levels in your body, which can make high potassium worse.
Potassium binders can help with this, too. They can help you get the benefits of RAAS inhibitors without raising your potassium levels.
Water pills (diuretics)
Water pills (diuretics) help rid your body of extra potassium. They work by making your kidneys create more urine. Potassium is normally removed through urine.
Low-potassium foods
Veggies
Cauliflower, peppers, cucumbers
Bread
Rice
Pasta
Fruits
Potassium resources library
Educational Potassium Resources
Potassium Food Tracker
Use the potassium tracker to record the amount of potassium in the foods you eat, and also log when you take your potassium binder.
Keeping your potassium in balance
Learn what causes high potassium (hyperkalemia) and ways to keep your potassium levels in balance.
Hyperkalemia (high potassium) and kidney disease
Learn the symptoms of hyperkalemia and ways to manage potassium levels.
Food Labels and Potassium
Learn more about food labels and how to read them so you can track intake of certain nutrients, like potassium.
Low vs. high-potassium foods
Learn about which foods are considered low versus high in potassium and how to talk with your doctor about what is right for you.
Explore More:
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