potassium supplement

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patriciafoley1
patriciafoley1 Posts: 137 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Two nutrients I consistently fail to get enough of, on reviewing my food diary, are potassium and iron. I eat spinach every day, but I get that still doesn't give me enough iron. I am wondering, does anyone supplement potassium or iron?

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  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,966 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    You may be getting enough. There are quite a few food database entries that don't show any potassium, for foods that actually do have potassium. Ditto for iron. This is not necessarily because MFP users are sloppy about putting things into the crowd-sourced database, but because those nutrients may not appear on the food labels that are the only information source the user has.

    What I've done is take a couple of my typical days, and spot check in one of two ways: (1) look up foods on the USDA food database site** or Self food database or similar more complete source, or (2) do a web search for "high potassium foods" or the like, and see how many of those I eat to get a ballpark estimate.

    ** https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/

    For iron specifically, it's usually not recommended to supplement unless you get a blood test to identify that that's something you need to do. Supplementing before testing will potentially distort results, and too much iron is potentially not a great thing.

    Seconding the above, and adding that, as I understand it, in the U.S. over-the-counter supplements can only contain small percentage of your daily potassium needs (about 3% or 4% as I recall), because of the significant potential for bad side effects when taken in larger amounts in supplements. You shouldn't take potassium supplements without getting your doctor's advice.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 878 Member
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    I'd say potassium and iron are SPECIFICALLY things you should NOT supplement with unless you have confirmation from a doctor that you are deficient and they suggest supplementation. There are some things it's fine to have too much of -- but for example, iron is for sure not one of them. You can have too much iron, and that's bad for you.

    The database here on MFP isn't even close to being accurate for things other than macros...bc they are often not input into the nutrition info (it's crowd sourced). So there is all the possibility in the world that you are not deficient in either of these things.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,956 Member
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    I'd say potassium and iron are SPECIFICALLY things you should NOT supplement with unless you have confirmation from a doctor that you are deficient and they suggest supplementation.

    ^^This

    Electrolytes aren't anything to mess with - be very careful. Most people in First World countries are getting enough potassium and iron.

    Talk to your doctor before supplementing.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    patriciafoley1 wrote: »
    Two nutrients I consistently fail to get enough of, on reviewing my food diary, are potassium and iron. I eat spinach every day, but I get that still doesn't give me enough iron. I am wondering, does anyone supplement potassium or iron?

    Potassium is just recently made a required nutrient to be put on food labels and since that is where users get most of the information to input into the database, it is simply missing. In general, MFP isn't a great source for tracking micro-nutrition like vitamins and minerals...too much of that information is simply missing from entries that are entered into the database by other users.

    Unless blood work shows a deficiency I wouldn't supplement...if you want more potassium in your diet, just google high potassium foods and eat more of those things. Over the counter potassium supplements actually don't provide much anyway due to the risk of having too much. If you're deficient as per blood work, your Dr. can prescribe something or otherwise properly direct you.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    edited August 2021
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    definitely ONLY supplement IF your physician determines it to be necessary. they can only tell that with blood work.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
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    I agree with the others that you shouldn't supplement unless you have a known deficiency. I don't even take a daily vitamin, but I do take several supplements for things that blood work has found that I am lacking.
  • ekenney1962
    ekenney1962 Posts: 5 Member
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    If you are NOT having heart palpitations then you are most likely getting enough potassium
  • SL62814
    SL62814 Posts: 22 Member
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    patriciafoley1 wrote: »
    Two nutrients I consistently fail to get enough of, on reviewing my food diary, are potassium and iron. I eat spinach every day, but I get that still doesn't give me enough iron. I am wondering, does anyone supplement potassium or iron?
    Yes, many supplement brands such as ginihealth provide, you can get all the essential vitamins which you require in just one pill, I also take my vitamins from them. They have really come out beneficial in fulfilling my body requirements.

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