Potassium Chloride & Heart Attacks
Potassium, classified as an essential mineral, functions as an electrolyte, which means it transmits the tiny electrical impulses between nerves. In the heart, potassium keeps your heart beating rhythmically. Your body must maintain its potassium level within a narrow range to keep cells, nerves, muscles and the heart functioning properly. Too little potassium in your blood can contribute to a heart attack, but too much potassium, such as what can occur when taking potassium chloride supplements can also affect heart function and lead to a heart attack.
Indications
Eating a healthy diet that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables provides your body with all the potassium it needs. Failing to consume the recommended daily intake of potassium, reported by the Institute of Medicine as 4,700 mg per day, leads to a potassium deficiency, a condition known as hypokalemia. More common causes of a low potassium level include the use of diuretic medications to treat high blood pressure or medical conditions that increase the excretion of potassium in the urine, such as Cushing’s syndrome or aldosteronism. In these cases, your doctor may prescribe potassium chloride supplements.
- Eating a healthy diet that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables provides your body with all the potassium it needs.
- Failing to consume the recommended daily intake of potassium, reported by the Institute of Medicine as 4,700 mg per day, leads to a potassium deficiency, a condition known as hypokalemia.
Membrane Potential
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Potassium and sodium work together within the body to balance the amount of fluid inside and outside of cells, and to transmit the electrical signals important for muscle contraction and heart function. The majority of potassium enters the cell, while the majority of sodium remains in the fluid surrounding the cells. This concentration difference creates an electrochemical gradient, known as the membrane potential. Your body expends 20 to 40 percent of its resting energy to maintain this sodium and potassium concentration, showing the importance of this function for supporting life, according to the Linus Pauling Institute 1.
- Potassium and sodium work together within the body to balance the amount of fluid inside and outside of cells, and to transmit the electrical signals important for muscle contraction and heart function.
- Your body expends 20 to 40 percent of its resting energy to maintain this sodium and potassium concentration, showing the importance of this function for supporting life, according to the Linus Pauling Institute 1.
Lethal Injection
Doctors must carefully monitor patients taking potassium chloride supplements, through the use of potassium serum tests and electrocardiograms that reveal heart function. Too much potassium in the blood, a condition known as hyperkalemia, can cause muscle weakness and paralysis and interrupt the normal heartbeat causing heart arrhythmia. Heart arrhythmia can lead to a heart attack or cause the heart to stop beating, known as cardiac arrest. Many states that utilize lethal injection as a form of capital punishment administer three types of medications -- including a high dose of potassium chloride to stop the heart.
- Doctors must carefully monitor patients taking potassium chloride supplements, through the use of potassium serum tests and electrocardiograms that reveal heart function.
- Too much potassium in the blood, a condition known as hyperkalemia, can cause muscle weakness and paralysis and interrupt the normal heartbeat causing heart arrhythmia.
Heart Attack
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A heart attack, also known as a myocardial infarction, describes a condition in which a portion of the heart fails to receive enough oxygen. If blood flow is not restored, that portion of the heart muscle becomes damaged and can die. A heart attack can occur when the coronary arteries become blocked due to the buildup of plaque. High blood pressure, known as hypertension, damages the lining of the blood vessels, which increases the risk of plaque buildup. Potassium helps to regulate blood pressure, so taking carefully monitored amounts of potassium chloride to treat a condition of low potassium can help prevent a heart attack.
- A heart attack, also known as a myocardial infarction, describes a condition in which a portion of the heart fails to receive enough oxygen.
- Potassium helps to regulate blood pressure, so taking carefully monitored amounts of potassium chloride to treat a condition of low potassium can help prevent a heart attack.
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References
- Linus Pauling Institute: Potassium; Victoria Drake; December 2010
- Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: Potassium; August 2008
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: Heart Attack; March 2011
- Potassium. Office of Dietary Supplements. National Institutes of Health
- Lambert H, Frassetto L, Moore JB, et al. The effect of supplementation with alkaline potassium salts on bone metabolism: a meta-analysis. Osteoporos Int. 2015;26(4):1311-8. doi:+10.1007/s00198-014-3006-9
- Chatterjee R, Slentz C, Davenport CA, et al. Effects of potassium supplements on glucose metabolism in African Americans with prediabetes: a pilot trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017;106(6):1431-1438. doi:10.3945/ajcn.117.161570
- Potassium. Fact Sheet for Consumers. Office of Dietary Supplements. National Institutes of Health
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- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. What Is Potassium?
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- Curhan GC, Willett WC, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ. A prospective study of dietary calcium and other nutrients and the risk of symptomatic kidney stones. N Engl J Med 1993;328:833-8.
- Curhan GC, Willett WC, Speizer FE, Spiegelman D, Stampfer MJ. Comparison of dietary calcium with supplemental calcium and other nutrients as factors affecting the risk for kidney stones in women. Ann Intern Med 1997;126:497-504.
- D’Elia L, Barba G, Cappuccio FP, Strazzullo P. Potassium intake, stroke, and cardiovascular disease a meta-analysis of prospective studies. J Am Coll Cardiol 2011;57:1210-9.
- O’Neil C, Keast D, Fulgoni V, and Nicklas T. Food sources of energy and nutrients among adults in the US: NHANES 2003-2006. Nutrients. 2012;4:2097-120. DOI: 10.3390/nu4122097.
- Stone M, Martyn L, and Weaver C. Potassium intake, bioavailability, hypertension, and glucose control. Nutrients. 2016;8: E444. DOI: 10.3390/nu8070444.
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- Weaver CM. Potassium and health. Adv Nutr 2013;4:368S-77S.
- Yong Sun, et al. Dietary potassium regulates vascular calcification and arterial stiffness. JCI Insight. 2017;2(19):e94920.
Writer Bio
Stephanie Chandler is a freelance writer whose master's degree in biomedical science and over 15 years experience in the scientific and pharmaceutical professions provide her with the knowledge to contribute to health topics. Chandler has been writing for corporations and small businesses since 1991. In addition to writing scientific papers and procedures, her articles are published on Overstock.com and other websites.