{"id":3492,"date":"2025-09-06T13:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T13:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/3492\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T13:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T13:09:10","slug":"can-potassium-supplements-help-lower-the-risk-of-heart-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/3492\/","title":{"rendered":"Can potassium supplements help lower the risk of heart failure?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"personShare on Pinterest<\/a>Maintaining high blood potassium levels, for instance, by taking supplements, may help lower heart failure risk. Image credit: Viktoriya Skorikova\/Getty ImagesA new trial investigating high-normal serum potassium levels for people at high risk of ventricular arrhythmias delivered promising results.Compared to a control group, people with these elevated potassium levels fared better over the approximately 3 years of the trial.Too little potassium is bad for the heart, and so is too much. The trial suggested a new sweet spot for at-risk heart patients.<\/p>\n

The study, conducted at three sites in Denmark, was called the POTCAST trial, for \u201cTargeted Potassium Levels to Decrease Arrhythmia Burden in High-Risk Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial tracked for 3.3 years the cardiovascular health of participants maintaining high-normal potassium levels compared to a control group whose potassium levels were not being treated.<\/p>\n

This was done by measuring the incidence of specific cardiovascular events: sustained ventricular tachycardia, necessary life-saving ICD therapy, unplanned hospitalization of greater than 24 hours for arrhythmia or heart failure<\/a>, or death from any cause.<\/p>\n

By the end of the trial, just 22.7% of study participants with high-normal potassium levels had experienced one of these events, compared to 29.2% of individuals in the untreated group.<\/p>\n

Specifically, just 15.3% of high-normal potassium individuals experienced a ventricular tachycardia event or required ICD therapy, compared to 20.3% of the normal potassium participants, while for the untreated group, 10.7% required hospitalization for arrhythmia, compared to 6.7% of those in the high-normal group.<\/p>\n

There were no significant differences between the groups regarding the incidence of hospitalization for hyperkalemia<\/a> (overly high potassium levels) or hypokalemia<\/a> (overly low potassium levels).<\/p>\n

The target potassium level for the high-normal group in the study was 4.5-5.0 mmol\/L (millimoles per liter). The average potassium level of participants at the baseline was 4.01 mmol\/L.<\/p>\n

The trial aimed to identify an increased level of potassium that was high enough to aid heart function without being so high as to cause damage.<\/p>\n

Members of the high-normal group received mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists<\/a> and\/or potassium supplements, as well as dietary guidance to increase their serum potassium to the target level over a period of 85 days.<\/p>\n

They had also reduced or completely discontinued any current use of potassium-losing diuretics.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormal serum potassium levels are critical to maintaining the electrical stability of the heart,\u201d Roy Ziegelstein<\/a>, MD, of DynaMed at EBSCO Clinical Decisions, not involved in this study, told Medical News Today. \u201cIn fact, either low or high potassium levels can cause unstable heart rhythms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jayne Morgan<\/a>, MD, cardiologist and the Vice President of Medical Affairs for Hello Heart, likewise not involved in this study, explained that:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is because cardiac action potentials depend on potassium gradients between the inside and outside of the heart muscle cells. This controls repolarization.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact that participants in the trial all had cardioverter defibrillators made them especially sensitive to the electrical effects of potassium levels, said Ziegelstein, \u201csince their electrical system of their heart is already more vulnerable than those without a similar history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The designers of this trial clearly hoped to identify a \u201cgood sweet spot\u201d for potassium levels, as suggested<\/a> by panelist Theresa McDonagh<\/a>, MD, of King\u2019s College London during the trial results\u2019 presentation at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cLow levels also can create a risk of arrhythmias, just as high levels can,\u201d said Morgan. \u201cThis includes superventricular tachycardia<\/a>, torsades de pointes<\/a>, and even cardiac arrest in severe cases. Levels below 2.5 mmol\/L carry a severe risk level, with levels between 2.5-2.9 mmol\/L carrying a moderate risk level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too-high potassium levels pose perhaps the most profound danger, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most serious risk is the very thing that is trying to be avoided by increasing the potassium range, which are arrhythmias,\u201d cautioned Morgan, \u201cincluding ventricular fibrillation, and asystole [cessation of heart function].\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, she added, \u201cIn addition to ECG changes, nerve and\/or muscle function can be impacted, including diaphragmatic weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis,\u201d said Ziegelstein, \u201cis something we must consider when recommending potassium supplements to patients, or when treating patients with other medications that may increase serum potassium levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan termed the findings of the trial as \u201cinteresting,\u201d and noted that they mirror the results of other studies.<\/p>\n

However, she said, \u201cit is worth noting that the mortality benefit is not realized until year 4, and that the active arm included more patients with a greater time since ICD therapy by 22%,\u201d implying they may have more completely recovered from previous events than the control group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comparison of human ancestral diets that were richer in potassium and lower in sodium is confounding, as the life expectancy was frequently less than 45 years ancestrally,\u201d was another concern for Morgan.<\/p>\n

She noticed as well that: \u201cThere were also more hospitalizations for electrolyte issues (presumably hyperkalemia), signaling the importance of very close monitoring. There is a narrow therapeutic window. As such, the treatment can also be the detriment outside of the window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ziegelstein, too, expressed concern regarding the difficulty of tightly monitoring patients at higher potassium levels, noting that, \u201cin this study, participants had blood tests performed every other week to make sure that their potassium was in the desired range and neither too high nor too low \u2014 this is often very difficult to do in routine clinical practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that people with cardiovascular disease who may be interested in investigating the possibility of upping their potassium levels should make sure to consult their cardiologist first.<\/p>\n

Do not increase your potassium levels yourself without proper medical guidance, given the potential risk involved, the experts MNT spoke to cautioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share on PinterestMaintaining high blood potassium levels, for instance, by taking supplements, may help lower heart failure risk.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,3274,4175,61,60,4176],"class_list":{"0":"post-3492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-heart-disease","10":"tag-heart-failure","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-potassium"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}