Potassium in Naru Revive

Why is Potassium an important daily mineral?

Each sachet of Naru Revive contains 350mg of potassium. The formulation has been used by us personally since 2020, founded on science and refined through our experience of helping hundreds of patients with their nutrition and lifestyle changes over the last 10 years.

Potassium is the yin to Sodium’s yang. The balance of these two electrolytes is incredibly important.

The ratio is important when it comes to activation of the sodium-potassium ATPase pump which helps:

• Maintain resting potentials and restores resting potential

• Regulates cellular volume

• Regulates MAPK pathway and reactive oxygen species

• Restores intracellular calcium

• Involved in glycolysis, importing glucose, amino acids and other nutrients into the cell by use of the sodium ion gradient.

The ratio of sodium to potassium in Naru Revive has been based on the findings from the INTERSALT study and the understanding of biological mechanisms. The optimal sodium-potassium pump ratio is 3:2 of potassium to sodium because this pump use ATP to power it and for it to work, it needs to bind 3 sodium molecules inside the cell and 2 potassium molecules outside of the cell. However, most of the evidence suggests a ratio of 1:2, Naru Revive has a sodium to potassium ratio of 1:3 and here is why.

With ALL minerals, it should mostly be consumed through your diet and this is especially true for potassium. As we have previously mentioned, most people who engage in exercise, intermittent fasting, eat wholefood, paleo or keto diets usually consume 70% less salt and lose much more of it. The electrolyte loss is what is not usually controlled for is most lifestyles and where it come hard for people to achieve optimal levels of their micronutrients.

Most ‘healthy’ people will be undergoing a heavier sodium loss than potassium loss, and most are not hitting their 5 grams a day. When aldosterone is high (due to LOW sodium levels) and potassium levels are low, this pump does not function properly and sodium gets retained inside the cell.

So, our ratios accounts for people increasing their sodium intake to allow your body to hold onto potassium and allows the sodium-potassium ATPase pump to work again.

This ratio seems really important, but here’s the thing….less than 3% of Americans consume the FDA-recommended amount of 4.7 grams per day!

The 4.7 gram recommendation isn’t arbitrary. There’s a huge body of evidence that higher potassium intakes can mitigate high blood pressure or hypertension and even lengthen lifespan by 5.1 years in Americans!

Here is just some of the evidence around optimising your potassium intake:

1. A meta-analysis of 11 prospective cohort studies in 247,510 adults found that a 1,640 mg per day higher potassium intake was associated with a significant 21% lower risk of stroke as well as nonsignificant lower risks of coronary heart disease and total CVD

2. A separate meta-analysis of 22 RCTs in individuals with normal kidney function that specifically searched for and recorded all available data on potential adverse effects concluded that there were no increased adverse effects, minor complaints, or major adverse events in the increased-potassium groups compared with the control groups in both adults and children. The intake of potassium in these trials ranged from less than 3500 to greater than 6000 mg (<90 to >155 mmol/d) and was from both diet and supplements.

3. Studies find that consuming less than 1,353 mg/day of potassium increases the risk of stroke by 28% and an intake between 3,500-4,700 mg/day is associated with a 24% reduced risk of stroke compared to an intake of less than 3,500 mg/day

Are large doses of Potassium safe to take?

The safety concerns with consuming potassium for the general public are few due to the kidney being able to rapidly increase its rate of excretion in response to high potassium doses potassium loading. You may have read that taking a potassium dose of more than 500mg at once, by itself (i.e. without food) poses a risk for cardiac arrythmia.

The maximum excretion rate in healthy adults after adaptation to high intake was estimated to be 31,500mg (800 mmol/d), which is approximately 10-fold higher than the average TOTAL American intake from food.

However, there is a risk of hyperkalaemia with patient with renal issues and therefore we would suggest consuming 1 sachet in 7/8 servings or using it in your fed state.

Low potassium levels in the blood usually occurs alongside low magnesium levels, both of which can promote cardiovascular complications. Drinking 6 cups of coffee a day can dump 500mg of potassium out of your body. So the amount of the minerals you ingest, should be in context with the amount you lose.

References

• 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.

• Aburto NJ, Hanson S, Gutierrez H, Hooper L, Elliott P, Cappuccio FP. Effect of increased potassium intake on cardiovascular risk factors and disease: systematic review and meta-analyses. Br Med J. 2013;346:f1378.

• Stamler J. The INTERSALT Study: background, methods, findings, and implications. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Feb;65(2 Suppl):626S-642S. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/65.2.626S. Erratum in: Am J Clin Nutr 1997 Nov;66(5):1297. PMID: 9022559.

• Berliner RW, Kennedy TJ, Jr, Hilton JG. Renal mechanisms for excretion of potassium. Am J Physiol. 1950;162(2):348–367.