Can you get too much potassium?

While too little of this nutrient can raise your blood pressure and jeopardize your heart health, too much of it can also be harmful. For some folks, high potassium levels in the blood can disturb the body’s electrolyte signaling, resulting in an abnormal heartbeat.

This condition — officially known as hyperkalemia — happens when potassium levels in your blood reach dangerously high levels, usually because your overloaded kidneys cannot flush out the mineral efficiently. That’s why hyperkalemia often develops in people with chronic kidney disease.

However, there are also other causes of hyperkalemia:

• Following a diet that’s too high in potassium (usually due to salt substitutes and supplements)
• Certain medications, such as blood pressure-lowering drugs
• Existing conditions like congestive heart failure or diabetes

Before revealing the list of potassium-rich foods, it is worth mentioning a couple of things. While you should always consult your general practitioner before making any dietary changes, many of us could benefit from a little more potassium on our plates.

Supplements are also available, but experts advise people to avoid them unless their doctor prescribes it. According to Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute, multivitamins often contain small amounts of this mineral — up to 99 milligrams per serving — but more potent forms require close monitoring to ensure that all your levels are within a healthy range.

Luckily, there are many ways to include more potassium in your diet. For instance, the DASH Diet (an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), is a great option that has been demonstrated to lower blood pressure. This diet emphasizes potassium-rich foods while eliminating those foods that are high in sodium.

Let’s see which foods are included in this diet!