Potassium RDA, most people don't hit it

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1

Something I have been thinking about is how high the Potassium RDA is. It’s 3.5-4.7g in the US. My questions are

  1. iWhat are the emperical evidence of the benefits of this? I have read some medical journals that show a reduction in BP. Any for strength training? Sleep?

  2. Clearly most Americans don’t hit it. This is around 10 cups of green vegetables in a day. Why is it set so high, it’s not clear. The USDA USHHS doesn’t really say why. Is it possible this is in response to the high table salt intake of most Americans?

  3. I know a lot has been written about the negatives of K supplements. I’ve seen Dr. Berg on YT say he’s had great success with having his patients either eat or juice 10 cups of vegetables. Although his science can be sketchy sometimes, it seems like he has a good response from his patients on this. On juicing especially it seems like you are removing the fiber that would slowly release the K into your body and essentially doing what a vitamin K supplement does, no? So should people also be cautious with high potassium juicing?

2

It seems the number is determined from the supposed median intake of healthy adults; 3,400 mg (m) — 2,600 mg (f). There is no actual RDA, only an AI. Having insufficient data to determine the RDA or EAR numbers? The whole thing seems odd to me. I’ve never had all those cups of vegetables in a day. Or 6 medium potatoes. It’s said that most Americans don’t get enough, so how is the average intake of healthy adults so high? The healthy are a minority, by some standard? I agree that something seems wrong.

From NIH: Recommended Intakes [of potassium]

Intake recommendations for potassium and other nutrients are provided in the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) developed by expert committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) [11]. DRI is the general term for a set of reference values used for planning and assessing nutrient intakes of healthy people. These values, which vary by age and sex, include:

  1. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA): Average daily level of intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97%–98%) healthy individuals; often used to plan nutritionally adequate diets for individuals.

  2. Adequate Intake (AI): Intake at this level is assumed to ensure nutritional adequacy; established when evidence is insufficient to develop an RDA.

  3. Estimated Average Requirement (EAR): Average daily level of intake estimated to meet the requirements of 50% of healthy individuals; usually used to assess the nutrient intakes of groups of people and to plan nutritionally adequate diets for them; can also be used to assess the nutrient intakes of individuals.

In 2019, a NASEM committee updated the DRIs for potassium (and sodium) [11]. ## The committee found the data insufficient to derive an EAR for potassium. Therefore, they established AIs for all ages based on the highest median potassium intakes in healthy children and adults

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Po…hProfessional/

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