This is an interesting topic!
I’ve always wondered if I should/could be adding something more to my drink mixes or supplementing separately. I use @Dr_Alex_Harrison 's fuel guideline chart from his book and it has recommendations for potassium amounts listed but I feel like I remember him mentioning it’s not really needed (I could be/probably am wrong on this) so I always ignored it. Hoping to see him chime in on this topic!
FWIW, I’m not experiencing any of the symptoms the OP listed.
@mrcrankyandangry that’s part of the reason I made the post. I assumed that I was getting enough. I eat quite well; tons of whole foods, very minimal processed, frozen & junk, etc. Tons of nuts, seeds, cheese & full fat yogourt, meat, fresh veg, salads, avos, some cooked veg, etc. I calculated a few sample days and all were 600 - 1500 mg, less than half estimated requirement for average, semi-sedentary people who aren’t losing tons to sweat.
@sns1294 that’s great to hear!! I thought I’d make the post because I didn’t see any others on this topic. I really wish it was more commonly known and talked about. Seems like it could help a ton of people. Na, K + Mg… insane stuff.
Govt recommended values are illogical. They might be for ‘dietary supplements’ which have poor absorption rates relative to real food, but I also think they’re mainly driven by domestic industry (ie govt says you need to buy its subsidized products to be healthy). There is no way eating that much potassium is reasonable without fortified food or dietary supplements, all of which are not natural for the human body.
Potassium consumption during activities is less effective. It is more of a daily mission to maintain correct levels. Sodium consumption during activity can be very important depending on your level of salt loss during activities. Sodium loss can vary widely from person to person so how much you need is something you will need to determine.
Very high-level summary of my view on potassium in sport:
There may be people who have very strong reasoning for taking it themselves, during training or racing, and I 100% respect that! There is little to no harm in including some of it in your sport fuel and hydration.
@Deej I mean low quality frozen instant foods; low quality pizzas, TV / instant dinners, etc.
Can’t stress enough that vitamin K and potassium are NOT the same thing. This is potentially dangerous for individuals on certain medications.
Your dietary intake of sodium and potassium will generally not impact the lab values much. The body works real hard to keep sodium and potassium levels in range. If the blood values are out of range it’s more a sign of some other disease process. Further, most of the body’s potassium is stored intracellularly which isn’t typically tested. So it’s great that your blood values are “perfect” but it doesn’t really reflect on your diet choices or anything.
@Pbase Just circling back to let everyone know that I sent Jamieson an email asking clarification, and the pills linked above do actually contain 195 mg elemental Potassium each, as Potassium Gluconate, not 195 mg of Potassium Gluconate.
Confusion came from the exact wording on the bottle itself: Quote:
Each caplet contains:
Potassium (Gluconate)… 195 mg
Which is good; I had been using them assuming they were giving 195 mg K each. This also means these are incredibly economical per mg K, especially vs. many drink tablets, etc!! 
Hmmm. That really doesn’t seem like much potassium. Maybe the gluconate has some sort of effect?
Intrigued by this thread, I just looked at a packet of “reduced-sodium salt”. 350g for £1.35. Of the salts in it, 50% is potassium chloride. I haven’t doubled checked it, but the box claims that it has 26.7g potassium/100g, which is 93.45g per box (at £1.35). It says that 1/4 of a teaspoon has 320mg potassium. Surely that is much cheaper?
@splash huh, that’s intriguing! Haven’t heard of that before.
I have read in a few places that too much chloride isn’t great for you, so some people say using sources like Potassium Citrate is better for you. So unsure if using the stuff you mention, with more Chloride in your diet, would be good or not.
But I haven’t been able to find any solid info / sources on that so far. Wonder if anyone can jump in.
In the meantime, I might look into that salt subsidiaries thing. I’d ask for a link to the product, but saw you used the pound sign for currency, and I’m in Canada! 
The worry with KCl in pill-form is it can spend considerable time in contact with the stomach wall and damage tissue there. OTC potassium-salt pills in the US are generally supposed to limited to 99mg of elemental potassium. Powders are no so restricted, and potassium gluconate powder has a pretty mild taste, but it quite a bit bulkier than KCl.
- Certain medical conditions such as dysphagia, swallowing disorders, or severe gastrointestinal motility disorders may cause potassium chloride tablets to maintain contact with the gastrointestinal mucosa for long periods. Consider the use of liquid potassium in these patients. Potassium chloride tablets should not be taken on an empty stomach.
Pretty sure the chloride issue is discussed in the Dr. Alex Harrison (Saturday Morning app) thread. I think the worry was if you were using sodium chloride (table salt) and potassium chloride, you might end up with more chloride than you can tolerate. The potassium chloride I’m using is called NoSalt. But, I mix it with maltodextrine and sodium citrate (and water), so no more chloride than is in the <1/8 tsp of NoSalt I put in per bottle. I haven’t had any stomach issues
I believe OTC potassium supplements are generally quite limited in terms of strength, because there’s pretty serious/life-threatening consequences associated with acute overdose (heart irregularities etc.) The salt substitutes are a bit of a loophole in that regard because they’re considered a food product, but I’d guess most people aiming to reduce salt in their diet don’t have high potassium levels either.
You can get stronger ones prescribed, but deficiencies severe enough to warrant those are usually fairly uncommon and generally a result of specific conditions rather than dietary inadequacy (ED’s, heavy laxative use, prolonged vomiting/diarrhoea, GI disorders etc.) They also require fairly close monitoring through regular blood tests to make sure you’re staying in the appropriate range.
To that end, I’d treat bulk potassium like caffeine powder- don’t just dump it in a bottle willy-nilly, weigh it out and make damn sure you know how much you’re taking in.
No link needed, just have a look in the supermarket. Unless Canada has restrictions on it, there’s likely some sort of similar salt mix. The one I saw was just a store-branded product. From this thread, I think the US have something called NuSalt (or NoSalt? - ‘no’ seems odd, its still salt!). People use it to reduce sodium intake, because of high blood pressure, etc.
And to clarify, I don’t advocate taking it by the tablespoon as a supplement! This is more something you’d use sparingly for salting your food. I found it interesting what someone else said up in the thread about the Na/K balance in our food. But you should be able to get 200mg of potassium from it quite easily by just salting something with it, or adding a pinch to a bottle you have on the bike.
(I’m wondering though if the pills you found do something different to your guts. Adding 200mg of K to your diet doesn’t seem enough to have such a drastic effect on your gut health. But I’m glad it works for you!)
@splash cool, thanks. Will look into it.
I take 400 mg twice a day for 800 mg / day total.
I don’t think it directly impacts gut health.
Yes, Na - K balance is what it is all about. Na and K have antagonistic effects. It actually says right on the bottle to not take it after excessive dehydration / sweating & physical activity. Having too much K and not enough Na can cause serious heart problems very fast. So can having not enough Na at all. I believe in the autopsy of that poor gent who passed during the marathon a couple years back it was determined he ran so low on Na his heart and other functions just shut down and couldn’t get started again. He was taking on only water, or just very low Na amounts.
Na, K and also Mg and Ca are involved in so many processes in the body. Trans membrane pumps, electrolyte & H2O balance, brain & muscle function, etc. I think my gut function improved not directly as a result of more K, but rather my entire electrolyte & H2O balance being so completely out of whack.
I also sleep WAY better, recover faster, no more leg cramps and twitching, feel less stressed, and anecdotally feels like I am able to push harder / get stronger, faster.
Everything was messed up!! 
I just saw this thread. Been taking a teaspoon a day of potassium citrate from bulk supplements as an effective nootropic for years now. In terms of exercise performance it’s probably something not well studied because it’s actually very difficult to formulate a nutrition plan that is calorie budgeted and includes enough potassium while getting lots of carbs and enough protein.
I saw this thread a while back and it had me curious. I haven’t had any health issues and have been waiting for my annual physical. Well I received my results today, potassium was 3.9 meq/L (3.5-5.3 meq/L). Guess I"m good to go. I believe, at least in this context, meq/L is same as mmol/L. Aside from protein powder post workout, no additional supplements here, only good eating.
How many of you actually got bloodwork to know if your levels were off?
Can you expand on this? Sounds almost like you’re saying diet has no effect on blood serum levels of K and Na?
Obviousy it’s not true that what you eat has no effect. Electrolyte labs respond to hydration status and meals. Drink a ton of water real quick and you’re going to have low serum sodium. Eat an unusually salty meal and it will rise.
But our bodies are really good at balancing these things out. It is extremely important to many bodily functions for electrolytes to be within normal limits. Excursions tend to be brief. And more relavent to the original comment, the body adapts to your “habitual diet”. So it you eat a very salty diet, it’s far from certain that will reflect in your blood labs. Your “normal” value is strongly defended by the body.
Basically, if your eletrolytes are out of range that’s more a sign of something being significantly wrong than an indication you’re doing anything right.
Chronically, yes. Acutely, you can have perturbations, eg, exercise-associated hyponatremia.
YUP. Get your beans checked, yo.