Potassium: Does It Have Effect On Blood Sugar?

[yerrag]

Next up, I'll try adding 210 mg sodium (bicarbonate), 50 mg magnesium (bicarbonate), 48 mg calcium (bicarbonate) to the 200 ml glass of satsuma juice (which contains 500 mg potassium).

I did as I said. Well, not quite. I had it with 2 tsp sugar. I didn't experience a feeling of low blood sugar. My blood pressure didn't get worse. This was done at 3 pm. And I had a light brunch at 10 am. Note that I didn't feel well drinking the fresh satsuma juice with 2 tsp sugar before.

So, it seems that just adding these salts in a ratio to potassium that approximates to that in coconut juice made a big difference.

Tomorrow, I'll do the same but without adding 2 tsp. oF sugar.

 

[ImprovingDaily]

Fresh fruits and vegetables are good dietary sources of potassium. The body responds to the influx of dietary potassium, which raises serum potassium levels, with a shift of potassium from outside to inside cells and an increase in potassium excretion by the kidneys.

From Wikipedia

So can high potassium levels in blood be an indicator of low potassium intake via diet? I had slightly elevated potassium and my fruit and veggie intake is probably not optimal. You said the body responds to high dietary potassium by shifting potassium inside the cells and secreting excess potassium. Seems like it might be desirable in my situation.

 

[Wilfrid]

Lately, I was reading an article about aldosterone and glucose metabolism ( The effect of aldosterone on glucose metabolism. - PubMed - NCBI ) and found two studies ( I haven’t read them yet ) about potassium and its effects on glucose and insulin from the article reference list.
Here: https://www.metabolismjournal.com/article/0026-0495(80)90074-8/pdf
And here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0954-6820.1961.tb07829.x
Both can be downloaded, in their complete form, from sci-hub.

 

[Wilfrid]

Sorry, the “ metabolismjournal” link is defective, here is the one from pubmed: Effect of experimental potassium deficiency on glucose and insulin metabolism. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[yerrag]

I did as I said. Well, not quite. I had it with 2 tsp sugar. I didn't experience a feeling of low blood sugar. My blood pressure didn't get worse. This was done at 3 pm. And I had a light brunch at 10 am. Note that I didn't feel well drinking the fresh satsuma juice with 2 tsp sugar before.

So, it seems that just adding these salts in a ratio to potassium that approximates to that in coconut juice made a big difference.

Tomorrow, I'll do the same but without adding 2 tsp. oF sugar.

I drank 200 ml of fresh satsuma juice (250 mg mg elemental potassium) with the 210 mg elemental sodium, 50 mg elemental magnesium, and 48 mg elemental calcium added, in the form of bicarbonates. Success! I didn't feel low on blood sugar.

Next week, I'll get back to fresh vegetable juicing and make my usual veggie juice from celery, cucumber, green bell pepper, bitter gourd, and pineapple. This blend gives me a feeling of low blood sugar after I take it separate from meals. Will add the bicarbonate blend of magnesium, calcium, and sodium, and see how I react to it.

I may continue this practice of having brunch, and then skipping lunch, and then do fresh fruit juicing (with the mineral bicarbonate blend) in the afternoon, and having a light supper. It seems to give me a refreshing energy level, and today, I see a welcome drop in my blood pressure readings as well. My blood pressure readings fluctuate greatly during the day. It seems to me that it has a lot to do with blood sugar variability. After meals, my blood pressure comes down.

I bet if I could manage to keep my blood sugar levels normal within a tighter band, my blood pressure would not fluctuate as much.

 

[yerrag]

Lately, I was reading an article about aldosterone and glucose metabolism ( The effect of aldosterone on glucose metabolism. - PubMed - NCBI ) and found two studies ( I haven’t read them yet ) about potassium and its effects on glucose and insulin from the article reference list.
Here: https://www.metabolismjournal.com/article/0026-0495(80)90074-8/pdf
And here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0954-6820.1961.tb07829.x
Both can be downloaded, in their complete form, from sci-hub.

Sorry, the “ metabolismjournal” link is defective, here is the one from pubmed: Effect of experimental potassium deficiency on glucose and insulin metabolism. - PubMed - NCBI

It's not accessible but I read the abstract. It concerns potassium deficiency and its effect on impairing carbohydrate metabolism without increasing insulin resistance, as I understand from reading the abstract. It doesn't touch though on the effect of potassium intake that may lead to lower blood sugar, although it would not be far-fetched to think that potassium intake would lead to the corollary effect on blood sugar, which is to decrease it.

 

[nwo2012]

Medically, infusions of actrapid insulin and glucose are often used to lower a high plasma potassium level Id assume by shutteling it back into cells. Definitely better than the other method, drinking polystyrene.

 

[yerrag]

Next week, I'll get back to fresh vegetable juicing and make my usual veggie juice from celery, cucumber, green bell pepper, bitter gourd, and pineapple. This blend gives me a feeling of low blood sugar after I take it separate from meals. Will add the bicarbonate blend of magnesium, calcium, and sodium, and see how I react to it.

Sorry it took longer, but today I made my fresh veggie juice as described. I got 400 ml of fruit juice (2 glasses) and I put 2 tsp muscovado sugar in each glass, and drank each glass 1 hour apart. I did not experience a feeling a low blood sugar this time. It was the added sugar that made the drinking of veggie juice more pleasant to me. Made a big difference.

Tomorrow instead of adding sugar, I'll add my blend of magnesium ascorbate, potassium ascorbate, and potassium bicarbonate to it, and see how it goes. I've got a feeling it won't, as I'm adding 800 mg potassium and only 400 mg magnesium. But if it works, it could be the ascorbate (7.5 grams of ascorbic acid) that would be taking the place of fructose, as they are analogs.

 

[postman]

With all this talk about potassium and sugar, doesn't that make coconut sugar a superior form of sugar when compared to pure white cane/beet sucrose? Because coconut sugar has at least 600 mg (sometimes even 1000 mg) of potassium per 100 g of sugar.

 

[yerrag]

With all this talk about potassium and sugar, doesn't that make coconut sugar a superior form of sugar when compared to pure white cane/beet sucrose? Because coconut sugar has at least 600 mg (sometimes even 1000 mg) of potassium per 100 g of sugar.

You have a very good point here.

 

[Katty]

if we are talking about the supposed effect of insulin stimulating ingress of glucose into cells, then potassium has to be said to be much more powerful in doing so. According to eye-opening stuff I've read recently thanks to folks here on the forum.

Dr. Peat has said potassium is far more important than insulin in regulating blood sugar.

@yerrag physiologically 500mg of potassium after a meal is not far out of the ordinary. We can easily get 2000mg of potassium in a meal with lots of fruit and cooked veggies and even meat.

The effect of potassium I think is to speed up osmotic uptake by cells.

When diabetics go into ketoacidosis, they frequently have very high blood potassium levels. It is from osmotic pressure drawing potassium out of the cells and of course is very dangerous.

I may be all wrong about the above. It is my very shallow understanding at the moment.

@ecstatichamster
What is it about being diabetic that causes the osmotic pressure to push potassium outside the cell? How would one fix that problem? If diabetics need more potassium, but the cell is pushing potassium out and causing high blood levels of potassium, this seems like a problematic cycle.

 

[Sativa]

What is it about being diabetic that causes the osmotic pressure to push potassium outside the cell? How would one fix that problem?

fix the problem by trying any of the most suitable anti-diabetic solutions mentioned on this forum, several by Haidut!

 

[redsun]

@ecstatichamster
What is it about being diabetic that causes the osmotic pressure to push potassium outside the cell? How would one fix that problem? If diabetics need more potassium, but the cell is pushing potassium out and causing high blood levels of potassium, this seems like a problematic cycle.

Doesnt insulin push potassium into cell? So lots of insulin is what gets potassium into the cell from the blood. I mean its diabetes we are talking about right which is all about insulin not being as affective? So insulin resistance or insulin is not being produced as much. I know zinc and manganese are involved in insulin. Progesterone may be involved with potassium as well. Coincidently zinc will raise progesterone (is a necessary cofactor) and some studies show progesterone may play a role in regulating potassium.

I never had diabetic-like symptoms my entire life and into my teenage years, only in a time where I was really pounding down carbohydrates of all kinds, unhealthy fats, basically junk food and had almost no zinc in my diet and didnt supplement for a extended period of time did I get diabetic like symptoms.

Big zinc supplementer most of my teenage life, took 50mg every night (for supposed test boost you always hear about) for years. Prob kept me very insulin sensitive though as I was lean and muscular moreso than anyone else my age. It likely gave me cognitive problems at such a high dose because of antagonizing iron and copper but regardless I think it really helped me regulate blood sugar and be very insulin sensitive I am convinced of it.