by Charles Weber, MS

Potassium losses from perspiration, in urine, during diarrhea, from stress, poisons, and disease states are discussed.

CONTENTS of other chapters: Back to INTRODUCTION chapter -- II. Arthritis Research -- III. Arthritis and Potassium -- IV. Roles of Potassium in the Body -- V. Electrolyte regulation (sodium and potassium) -- VI. Purpose of cortisol -- VII. Copper nutrition and physiology -- VIII. Nutritional Requirements -- IX. Potassium in Foods -- X. Processing Losses -- X,cont. Losses in the kitchen -- XI. Supplementation -- Side Effects and Heart Disease -- XIVPotassium and thiamin in heart disease -- Strategies for CFS and fibromyalgia

--------------------- POTASSIUM NUTRITION (a book by Charles Weber) Potassium losses from perspiration, in urine, during diarrhea, from stress, poisons, and disease states are discussed in the book available here, as well as methods to supplement potassium safely, especially as involved in heart disease, gout, high blood pressure, and rheumatoid arthritis, and indirectly in diabetes. It is published by iUniverse publishing company and it is a very comprehensive book about potassium, probably much more so than any other. You may see the table of contents with chapter summaries and the introductory chapter by clicking here.

When Blood Potassium is too High

INTRODUCTION,

The body must continually take in potassium throughout life, for there is no way to prevent loss in the urine and there is no storage in the cells or any organ, other than potassium associated with glycogen (animal starch). Glycogen is really a means of storing glucose sugar. If potassium were to be cut off completely, most mammals would probably be dead in less than two months. Humans would probably not last much longer. The general strategy that the body adopts is to take in more potassium than it needs in food, to absorb most of it from the intestines, and then to adjust the concentration in the blood serum by excreting just exactly the right amount from the kidneys, and to some extent into the lower large intestines.

Before the kidneys have a chance to excrete the excess, the potassium diffuses into any deficient body cells. The cell is essentially a tiny bag of potassium salts. Since the blood serum in which these cells bathe is made up mostly of sodium with only about 187 milligrams of potassium per liter, it is necessary for the cell to have some mechanism for keeping out the sodium. As we have seen the sodium either diffuses in or is pumped in along with the potassium. The current evidence seems to indicate that both a pump or pumps and diffusion are involved, and that the diffusion goes through an enzymatic gate. After they get in, there is a net pumping out of the sodium through the sodium pump on the cell wall. There is evidence that possibly the outward pumping of three sodium ions is coupled with an inward pumping of two potassium ions. If so this coupling would greatly increase the energy efficiency of the pump. I need to examine the literature to establish current thinking more certainly. However the exact configuration of these pumps and gates would not change the matter from seeming to be a true Donnan equilibrium.

The sodium pump operates every hour of the day and night throughout life, powered by 10% of the body's resting energy [Potts p274-275]. Only certain poisons [Post] or cold in the vicinity of freezing [Hendricks] can stop it . If it were to stop in vital cells, death is certain in a short time, perhaps as little as 15 minutes. In the brain the situation is even more serious. If the brain is merely deprived of the oxygen necessary to power this pump for as little as 5 minutes, irreparable damage is likely.

Since the most immediately urgent role of potassium in the body is to act as a counter flow for sodium's role in nerve transmission, the body must put a high priority on regulating the potassium of the blood serum. If the animal is to survive, its nervous system must be in peak performing ability all the time. Too little potassium is normally not a problem, because the cell fluid contains enormous amounts of potassium compared to the plasma. This potassium can be made available merely by allowing sodium to displace 2/3 of that which leaves the cell [Rubini] and the rest moves out with some of the negatively charged ions [Gardner]. Too much potassium is a perennial problem, however. A minor mechanism can be used to help the body cope with an acute emergency. For instance when sugar is stored in the liver as glycogen it always takes one ion of potassium with every molecule of glycogen [Hungerland]. So in an emergency merely by secreting more insulin, the body can unload a fair amount of potassium from the blood [Hiatt]. It may also secrete more glucagon at the same time in order that the blood not be depleted of glucose [Hiatt]. The insulin mechanism is only used at high intakes.

URINE

The main regulator, and the organ on which the body places most of its hopes to keep potassium normal, is the kidney. Aldosterone and deoxycorticosterone (DOC) stimulate the kidneys to excrete potassium. Most of the emergency unloading takes place in the distal and collecting tubules where potassium can be actively excreted in amounts as high as 26000 milligrams per day for persons adapted to a high intake [Peterson 1972 p107,114, or 151]. A healthy young adult male can excrete about 2000 milligrams per day in the urine and still maintain his optimum potassium level [Consolazio 1967]. Since this is the main stream of potassium excretion, it follows that the minimum daily requirement is a little over 2000 milligrams per day for normal young adults who are not perspiring, not subject to fear or anxiety, and do not have diarrhea or vomiting.

SOLID EXCRETION

The potassium can not be completely absorbed by the intestines from the food. Very little is left in the absence of diarrhea, however, of the order of 167 milligrams per day [Consolazio 1963]. Therefore this amount has to be added to the 2000 milligrams above to get the minimum daily requirement. Potassium is primarily absorbed in the large intestine. Under aldosterone stimulation the last part of the large intestine can reverse the normal direction of potassium movement [Edmonds] or at least prevent its reabsorption. The intestines thus assist the kidneys in preventing surges of potassium in the blood serum.

While potassium excretion is normally low in the solid excretion, it can be significantly raised, to as high as 1100 milligrams per day from the usual 300 milligrams per day from a potassium adequate diet, by large amounts of wheat fiber.

PERSPIRATION

Potassium lost in perspiration is usually very low also, since perspiration is itself usually low in volume. The potassium is about the same content as blood serum [Gordon]. When perspiration is excessive the situation changes, and it is possible to conceive of potassium losses rivaling those of minimum kidney losses on a sweltering day and muggy night. The normal loss is one milliequivalent or about forty milligrams of potassium for each six grams of water [Weisberg]. It follows that your potassium requirements are higher in the summer than in the winter. It is possible that the loss of potassium that must be taking place from cool body cells may make winter a little more prone to loss than in spring or fall but I have no data which would establish this.

The frequent saunas or steam baths which the people of Finland take, may be helping to give them one of the highest rates of arthritis in the world [Kellgren] because of the attendant perspiration.

SODIUM The one nutrient which most affects the potassium excretion is sodium. Sodium is one of the most serious limiting minerals in nature for mammals. In the moist tropics where the distant ancestors of man probably evolved, I suspect that it is possible that almost all the sodium is present in the blood streams of vertebrates in some places, because the iron and aluminum hydroxides of tropical soils do not bind it very well, and plants do not concentrate it. In ancient times, salt was one of the most valuable commodities in international trade, even rivaling gold in value [Bloch]. Even today camel caravans loaded with salt bricks from the central Sahara Desert plod across hundreds of miles of desolate terrain to deliver their precious cargo to central Africa. An indication of how important the sodium and chloride in salt were to ancient people is that the word "salary" is derived from salt. The old adage "worth his salt" is another legacy from the past.

Block believes that whole towns died out in Holland because the sea rose slightly and covered salt evaporating pans during the middle ages [Block]. An armed insurrection in India almost happened when the British merely taxed salt and was averted only by a miracle and the personality of Mahatma Gandhi.

Such ripples from the past must seem bizarre and dreamlike to you who read this and are wrestling with the opposite problem. Huge front end loaders, enormous pumps, and excellent transportation have made salt so cheap that it is used in snow melting salt, water softeners, pickling fluids, and is sprinkled liberally on almost every processed food sold.

Rats on low sodium excrete more potassium than controls from all causes, including increasing the sodium intake above normal [Peterson][Wormersley]. There is no net loss of potassium on high sodium intakes less than about 7000 milligrams per day. It would seem that a very high sodium intake, but especially a very low intake, would increase the potassium requirement from the 2200 milligrams plus or so minimum established so far. This could be as much as 500 milligrams (but I have no excellent information), to bring it to as much as 3000 milligrams per day or so. Please keep in mind that this is a bare minimum and makes no allowance for disease, perspiration, emotional storms, mild genetic defects, poisons, odd intakes of other nutrients and old age. Going below such a minimum would not severely degrade health normally, but it would probably make the most optimum performance degraded somewhat. I currently suspect that 1000 to 2000 milligrams per day (a little over two times this amount expressed as table salt) is the desired amount of sodium that would give an approximately equal number of atoms. This amount should keep the body reasonably well conditioned against the heat stroke of profuse perspiration (although 500 milligrams of sodium would be more efficient) and protecting against other circumstances, circumstances that I can not discuss with precision at this time. I am reasonably certain that the 4000 milligrams (9000 milligrams of salt) or so that Americans consume at present is too high. There are recommendations of 500 milligram in the literature [Meneely]. This low a figure would be difficult to obtain but it is a figure some hypertensives should attempt [Abernethy]. It should be kept in mind that it may actually be the chloride in the salt which is at least part of the problem for hypertension since potassium as the chloride raises blood pressure instead of lowering it in rats. However potassium chloride reduces blood pressure in sodium loaded spontaneously hypertensive rats and protects them from kidney damage [Ellis] and lowers blood pressure in sodium loaded humans.. This may be because of difficulty in handling hydrogen ion (acid) in some forms of high blood pressure. Support is given to this possibility since sodium bicarbonate lowered blood pressure 5 mm of mercury while sodium chloride had no affect [Luft], possibly because sodium chloride was already high in their diet. Any designation of high blood pressure must be by comparing the pressure to the average among low sodium chloride intake people [Tekol]. Both sodium and chloride is necessary for pressure augmentation [Boegshold]. High ratios of potassium to sodium should not cause a major problem for people who have intact kidneys. Primitive tribes receive twenty to one ratios without apparent risk. It is possible that people descended from tribes with a long history of eating primarily meat such as Eskimos may need a little more sodium than others. In people who are nourished by unprocessed food, not assaulted by poisons in tobacco and liquor, and living a reasonable life, the regulatory systems should be able to tolerate a fairly wide range of sodium acute intakes. It is possible that chronic high intakes can eventually produce an intractable high blood pressure in some people, possibly arising from emplacement of inflexible collagen in blood vessels by increase deoxycorticosterone secretion. However, this could conceivably arise from the chloride usually associated with sodium supplements as well by some unknown mechanism. Potassium as the chloride should have the same affect as potassium from unprocessed food coupled with hydrochloric acid supplements. There are times when this might be disadvantageous. High blood pressure may prove to be one time, and limited personal experience has me believing that while suffering from pain from some sources may be another. The blood pressure circumstance may be because of difficulty in handling hydrogen ion (acid) in some forms of high blood pressure since 18 OH-DOC (the acid excreting hormone) is deeply involved in one of the at least three forms of hypertension [Melby 1972 p323]. Support is given to this possibility since sodium bicarbonate lowered blood pressure 5 mm of mercury while sodium chloride had no affect [Luft]. Chloride has not had much research into long term affects, but short term it increases blood pressure.

MAGNESIUM

Magnesium is deeply involved in the body's energy metabolism (Krispin Sullivan, clinical dietitian has written an excellent article on magnesium deficiency as well as practical ways to get more potassium from food) . Also see this site about magnesium deficiency. A magnesium deficiency can cause the body to lose potassium [Peterson 1963][MacIntyre][Manitius], possibly because of a poorly understood effect of magnesium on the efficiency of energy supply to the sodium pump [Fischer]. Conversely a potassium deficiency causes magnesium to accumulate [Southon]. I do not know whether this causes any adverse health problems. The nature of a magnesium deficiency on potassium [Grace] suggests to me that the effect should show up most strongly when the magnesium is supplied again. The symptoms of a magnesium deficiency are convulsions, gross muscular tremor, atheloid movements, muscular weakness, virtigo, auditory hyperacusis, aggressiveness, excessive irritability, hallucinations, confusion, semicomma [Bajusz] and depression. It consistently affects the kidneys, usually by calcification at the corticomedullary junction. Potassium content of the cortex does not change, but medulla content of potassium is diminished [Bajusz p 40]. Retinopathy (an eye disease) is associated with magnesium deficiency [Dorlach]. In monkeys the electrocardiogram in magnesium deficiency resembles that of high serum potassium (hyperkalemia) in spite of low serum potassium (hypokalemia) [Manitius p39]. So it is possible that lower cell potassium requires lower serum potassium for adequate nerve transmission, but the serum potassium does not drop [Manitius p38]. There is a fairly extensive review of magnesium nutrition along with foods high and low in magnesium [Seelig]. I suspect that people eating unprocessed food get enough magnesium. If so magnesium should have little affect on potassium requirements for such people. An exception might be people who do not get enough vitamin D which is said to be necessary for magnesium reabsorption or people not synthesizing enough parathyroid hormone (PTH) . Magnesium is needed in order to power the ATPase [Hamil-Ruth] because potassium can not be absorbed effectively during a magnesium deficit [Kohvakka]. If a magnesium deficiency does develop, half a year of supplements can be required for complete normalization of magnesium and potassium - sodium pumps [Anonymous].

COLD

I have already mentioned that the sodium pump dies down near the freezing point of water. I suspect that this is probably the reason for the pain we feel in cold fingers on a freezing day, since excess potassium causes local pain [Ghosh]. Calcium inhibits pain from damaged cells [Benjamin]. This release of potassium from cold tissue cells into the blood stream must surely be causing potassium excretion to rise some, thus raising the minimum requirement somewhat in winter. I have no proof of this concept from the medical literature, but it must be happening this way. It is possible that the greater misery which some arthritics claim to feel on cold days may be partly related to this circumstance. Gubner suggests that cold can lower heart potassium, although his own data does not confirm it [Gubner].

POISON

Alcoholic beverages can cause greater reduction of potassium during delirium tremens [Blay]. This is not the case for wine, which contains a substance that retards potassium excretion [McDonald & Margen]. Wine is not a good way to retard potassium excretion because most wine contains sulfur dioxide, which destroys vitamin B-1 in the intestines. This can be very dangerous to the heart because of an odd imbalance between these two nutrients.

DISEASE STATES

There are several disease states which cause higher excretion, and during which disease states a higher intake is desirable.

The most important and common of these is diarrhea. Certain peptide protein poisons given off by certain intestinal microorganisms prevent the large intestines from absorbing water and therefore also salts [Rowinski][Donowitz]. As a result not only the potassium in the food eaten, but also the 2500 milligrams or more [[Potts p274][Perkins] of potassium in digestive fluids is lost. The body can become dangerously depleted in a short time. Most of the death rate from the more virulent diarrheas in children is from an acute potassium deficiency. The death rate was markedly reduced in one virulent strain using potassium supplements [Darrow][Govan]. The dead babies showed a loss of 40% of their muscle potassium. The dehydration which can take place in diarrhea can cause massive losses of potassium in urine in addition to the losses in the faeces. Every liter of water lost from the cells carries with it 6,500 milligrams of potassium [Weisburg p189]. His estimate is probably a little high, and in addition the net losses are lower because the blood plasma also loses water but those figures are probably not far off. Babies are especially vulnerable to this loss because they have no effective way of informing us of their thirst. Do not let any one in or out of a hospital talk you into drying the intestines to stop the loss of water by withholding water as hospitals used to do (and may still do some places). It is very important to use electrolytes in the water in he form of oral rehydration therapy (ORT). The microbes involved force the intestines to stop absorbing water regardless of intake probably in order to create a favorable environment for themselves. It has been determined that guava fruit or leaves will inhibit the bacteria that cause diarrhea [Lozoya].

You must be careful with supplements because the dehydration causes very high blood plasma potassium contents, even though the cells are becoming deficient. At the same time the aldosterone which stimulates excretion goes away down. The way medical people get around this these days is to administer oral rehydration salts (ORT salts), which are a mixture of sodium and potassium chloride and sodium bicarbonate in water. See this site for a discussion of oral rehydration therapy (ORT salts). The antidotes for too high blood potassium contents will be discussed in the chapter on supplements but especially in an article on high blood potassium (hyperkalemia). Intravenous solution of electrolytes is another life saving technique available in hospitals.

Vomiting which persists can also deplete the body's potassium somewhat [Bartter]. Barter believes the loss of hydrochloric acid is as important as the potassium loss in reducing body potassium. This is because when acid is lost the kidneys excrete more potassium [Welt 1960 p215][Potts p262] thus countering the alkalinity implied in the loss of chloride. The stomach secretes over 500 milligrams of potassium per day.

The balance of evidence would indicate that hostile or fearful emotions can be a cause of excessive loss [Glaz][Davson] such as anxiety over exams [Venning]. Certainly the stress and pain which attends surgery is well established as a time of excessive losses [MacDonald]. Supplements during this condition were becoming increasingly standard procedure in clinical practice [Rubini].

Coeliac (celiac in the USA) disease is a disease afflicting millions of people, in which gluten in grains damages the intestinal lining. It interferes with nutrient absorption, including potassium.

There are several rare diseases which can cause potassium loss. Among these are aldosterone tumors or Conn's syndrome thought to be 5-15% of high blood pressure or hypertension with muscular weakness, paralysis, tetany, polyuria excessive urine, hypertension, hypokalemic alkalosis of the blood, parathesiae. Primary hyperaldosteronism is the cause of hypertension in 5-25% of cases [Strauch]. Also involved are Cushing's syndrome (high cortisol), diabetic coma, and several types of kidney diseases [Wohl p832]. It said that hyperthyroid condition can cause such an acute low potassium that paralysis can occur. In these last cases a person would be under medical care so they are not really proper in a discussion of requirements for normal people.

LOSSES DURING MEDICAL ATTENTION

There is a class of chemicals called diuretics which have the effect of forcing the body to excrete sodium. Since one loses water and therefore weight at the sane time, these chemicals have been used as a weight reducing technique. Unfortunately one loses potassium at the same time in most of them. No fat is lost in this procedure; only water. Trying to lose weight with these chemicals would rank in logic with reducing the weight of a truck full of sand by draining the radiator. More valuable than advising you to increase your potassium intake while taking diuretics, would be to advise you not to attempt to lose weight with them at all. As for their other uses; I doubt if they are very often in order in healthy well fed people. Often they are used to help a patient suffering from edema (expansion of body fluid) who are reluctant to restrict salt. Potassium itself can act as a diuretic [Liddle] to some extent. One must use care about potassium supplements when using potassium sparing diuretics.

There are two other medical procedures which can cause increased losses. These are enemas [Dunning] (enemas lose more potassium when prolonged) and laxatives [Schwartz, ] [Rubini p107]. They are not procedures which should be indulged in routinely. Licorice is also strongly suspected of increasing losses [Kolata]. Licorice (but not the licorice candy which is said to be anise seed extract) contains a chemical called glycyrrhizic acid which hydrolyzes in the intestines to form glycyrretic acid [Stormer] or glycerretinic acid which interferes with degradation of aldosterone and cortisol. 50 grams of licorice sweets are enough to produce hypertension and low serum potassium in some people [Stormer]. Flavenoids in grapefruit are thought to have a similar affect on that enzyme [Lee].

Itraconazole medicine is suspected to cause severe hypokalemia (low blood potassium).

There is evidence that negative ions in the air can increase potassium loss [Olivereau]. If this is proved true it would follow that people living in homes heated by ionizing type of electrical heaters or ionizing generators should have somewhat greater needs.

Sometimes cortisone or other steroids are prescribed for arthritis. One side effect of this therapy is the loss of potassium This is hardly a problem anyone would have who has already cured the arthritis by diet. There are a number of medicines that cause losses of potassium. Beta-adrenergic agonists such as Epinephrine are examples. So are decongestants, bronchdilators, tocolytic (labor suppressing) agents.

These medicines increase losses (scroll down to bottom); Beta-adrenergic agonists such as Epinephrine, - Decongestants such as Psuedoephedrine and phyenylpropanolamine, - Bronchodilators such as Albuterol, terbutaline, pirbuterol, isoetharine, fenoterol, ephedrine, isoporterenol, metaproternenol, and theophylline, - Tocolytic (labor suppressing) agents such as Ritodrine and nylidrin, - Diuretics such as Acetazolamide, thiazides, chlorthalidone, indapamide, metolazone, quinethazone, bumetanide, ethycrinic acid, furosemide, and torsemide, - Mineralocorticoids such as Fludrocortisone, - Substances with mineralocorticoid effects such as Licorice, carbenoxolone, and gossypol, - High-dose glucocorticoids, High-dose antibiotics such as Penicillin, nafcillin, and carbenicillin, - Other substances such as Caffeine, phenopthalein, and sodium polystyrene sulfonate.

Surgery and injury cause increased losses [Randall][Selye p197-198]. This is probably because of secretion of steroids. [Elman]. Release of potassium into the blood from metabolic shock resulting from burns or injury is the chief cause of mortality in those states [Fox]. The release of potassium into the blood can be massive, and the corresponding losses as the kidneys attempt to clear this dangerous excess can be large.

There is a medicine called bitter root (wild ipecac, spreading dogbane, rheumatism weed) which is said to increase potassium excretion. If all the above increases in losses were to operate simultaneously it would place one in grave danger of heart failure, a disease to be discussed later.

ESTIMATE OF THE RECOMMENDED DAILY REQUIREMENT (RDR or RDA or AI))

Considering all the ways in which losses of a healthy person can be increased, it must be obvious that a preferred requirement must be higher than the bare minimum of 2200 milligrams per day or so excreted by the kidneys and colon on a mild day mentioned earlier. I do not see how the actual minimum average could be much below 3000 milligrams. Lane, et al, believe that over 3000 grams per day is necessary for athletes on a hot day to prevent negative balance [Lane]. However for a recommended amount I would suggest more than 4000 milligrams even on mild days. Hopefully this would provide most people with a reasonable margin of error. Almost no one has a way of monitoring his body's status and excretion. So if you seek optimum performance (not just freedom from arthritis symptoms) it would be best to err on the side of high. A high potassium intake is not possible if kidney function has been destroyed though.The amount should not be predicated on losses on balmy days spent with congenial friends. It is losses during summer heat and winter cold, the stress of battle and stormy emotions, and disease that should be determining since these conditions can never be predicted. Of course when recovering from a deficiency the amounts would ideally be higher yet, but not while dehydrated, at least not without plenty of water and sodium chloride salt, ideally as ORT salts.

There is another reason to set it on the high side. When the intake is high the kidneys gradually undergo modifications which make them much more efficient at excreting potassium [Wright]. It is thought that the distal tubules are involved normally and the collecting tubules when there is sodium deprivation [Silva].There is also a reduction in number of pumping sites on the muscle cell membrane in a deficiency [Nogaard]. Thus the muscle cells would presumably be less able to reabsorb potassium during metabolic shock as they do before the cells become saturated [Miller]. Thus a high intake should help guard one against a future low intake and, paradoxically, a future high plasma level as well.

Another reason for eating generous amounts of essential nutrients in general is that there is considerable variation in individual peoples’ requirements and very little ability to determine the variations.

Reaching this high intake using supplements may not be the best way because potassium interferes with magnesium absorption in some animals [Sheehan]. There is nothing like food. It tastes good too. There is extremely wide variation in the amounts of potassium per calorie each kind of food supplies so there are plenty of options.

Chapter IX , POTASSIUM and SODIUM in FOODS, will discuss this variation. It gives a link to a food content table expressing potassium as milligrams per Calorie in descending order. The very extensive USDA Handbook #8 may be seen here but from which one must compute the weight of potassium per Calorie. To access the information you must press "enter" to search, and then divide Kcal into milligrams of potassium. This last table is very comprehensive, is used in search mode, and even lists the amino acids.

It should be possible to lift oneself out of even a severe deficiency in only a month or two using food alone with proper selection. Using potassium chloride supplements it could be as short as several weeks or less if magnesium, and perhaps inositol and vitamin D are adequate. There is danger of imbalances with respect to other nutrients using such supplements only, to be discussed later. However, there should be little chance of danger in people with reasonably healthy kidneys if a gram or two per day of potassium is used in conjunction with an unprocessed diet high in leafy vegetables for a few weeks.

EPILOGUE

Dr. Reza Rastmanesh from Iran has recently performed a large controlled clinical trial testing potassium supplements against rheumatoid arthritis with dramatic decreases in pain in all subjects and increases of cortisol [Rastmanesh]. He would now like to continue his clinical research testing potassium in conjunction with other nutrients, especially magnesium, in an English speaking country. His credentials are impressive. If you know of any rheumatology department able to employ him, please contact me with isoptera at att.net , and I will send you a copy of the article he has submitted to a journal.

The health of people in the USA is abysmal , and a major part of it is poor nutrition. As the 12th century physician, trying to cure by diet before he administers drugs, said; “No illness that can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means" or as Hippocrates expressed it in 460 - 377BC; "If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health." It would seem that a healthy life style has been known for a long time. It is my belief that an unprocessed, unfrozen, not canned, high in vegetables diet would keep a large majority of people reasonably healthy and without the need for fad diets. 80% of Americans do not eat adequate vegetables, but even though 72% of Americans take vitamin or mineral supplements daily or sometimes [Sardi p148], their health is atrocious, especially old people..

I would suggest that a partial solution to the problem of poor potassium nutrition would be to place a tax on all food that has had potassium removed by food processors and completely fund all Medicare and workman’s compensation for injuries and disease that relate to rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, and high blood pressure. This would also take the onerous tax burden now incurred for them and place it on the shoulders of those who cause the problem

The author, Charles Weber, has a degree in chemistry and a masters degree in soil science. He has researched potassium for 45 years, primarily a library research. He has cured his own early onset arthritis (33 years old). He has published articles on allied subjects in; The Journal of Theoretical Biology (1970, 1983), The Journal of Applied Nutrition (1974), Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology (1983), and Medical Hypotheses (1984, 1999).

All printed rights to this article are reserved. Electronic rights are waived.

Email to; isoptera at att.net or 1 828 692 5816 (USA)

SOME LINKS TO HEALTH ARTICLES

There is an article discussing cashew nuts to cure a tooth abscess Which might prove useful
There is also an article which proposes some speculation about diabetes.
The pioneering efforts about potassium for arthritis by Charles de Coti-Marsh enabled him to form a foundation currently active in England that promotes the use of potassium for arthritis and it has helped 3500 people.

Fluoride in city water will cause fluorosis discoloration of teeth, weakened bones, damage to the kidneys, thyroid, and immune system, bone cancer, and, worst of all, damage to the nerves resembling Alzheimer’s disease. It will also cause damage to ligaments resembling arthritis. For a forum that discusses iodide (an antidote for fluoride) access this site.

See this site for some links to health articles.
It has been determined that adequate selenium will cut cancer rsk of several cancer types in half. For a procedure that discusses tetrathiomolybdate for removing copper and thus preventing further solid cancer growth and Hodgkin’s, see this site. This might buy some time until you can persuade a doctor to try tumor necrosis factor or interferon or an opioid antagonist drug called Naltrexone (Naltrexone in the large 50 mg size, originally manufactured by DuPont under the brand name ReVia, is now sold by Mallinckrodt as Depade and by Barr Laboratories under the generic name naltrexone) that blocks some endorphin receptors. Said blockage is thought to cause the body to temporarily secrete more endorphins, especially after midnight at night. These endorphins are thought to stimulate the immune system, and in particular to stimulate the TH-1 or type 1 antiviral response by decreased interleukin-4 and with increased gamma interferon and interleukin-2 and a simultaneous decrease of type 2 anti bacterial response [Sacerdote]. It appears to be especially effective for minimizing symptoms and retarding progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) There are drugs listed in this site that should not be taken with low dose Naltrexone, including cortisol. Advice how to proceed if you have been taking cortisol may be seen here. (also see these sites; this site and this site and a trial) . A few doctors have had encouraging results in Crohn's Disease, and even to some extent in cancer. Low doses of Naltrexone (LDN), 1.5 to 4.5 milligrams, at bedtime is used (timing is important, and it is important not to buy slow release forms). It is said to have no known bad side effects at those doses other than insomnia the first week or two in some. There is also reports from an extensive survey in this site. and an extensive discussion at this site. I think some clinical studies on Naltrexone are in order, and it should not be a prescription drug (I have a petition to make Naltrexone an over the counter drug with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research FDA Rockville MD 20857, Re; Docket No. 2006P-0508-CPI. Perhaps if enough people wrote supporting the petition it could be enacted). Though side effects appear unlikely, it is not proven over longer periods. If you try it (it is a prescription medicine in the USA), it seems likely that you should discontinue if you get a bacterial infection in view of its inhibition of antibacterial response. It is also being explored for AIDS by Dr. Bernard Bihari, 29 W 15th St. New York, NY 10011, 212) 929-4196 who is still prescribing Naltrexone for HIV/AIDS. (and currently Executive Director of the Community Research Initiative). Dr. Gale Guyer of Advanced Medical Center located in Zionsville, Indiana also is using it for cancer. Dr. Bihari has shown promising results for a large percentage of his cancer patients.

Olive leaf extract has shown clinical evidence of effectiveness against a wide range of viruses, including AIDS [Bihari], herpes, and cold viruses. It sometimes produces a Herxheimer or pathogen die off symptoms (from effectiveness against bacteria?). There is evidence that it is synergistic (reinforce each other) with Naltrexone. There have been a few case histories of improvement in what were probably arthritis patients and CFIDS patients. The active ingredient is said to be oleuropein or enolate. There has been very little follow up research done on it.

. Also it has been found that curcumin in turmeric or curry powder will inhibit several forms of cancer, including melanoma. People who live in India where these spices are eaten, have one tenth the cancer elsewhere. It must be used with caution because it can sometimes aggravate the situation [Stix].

Here is an article with anecdotal evidence for pressurized oxygen, zinc, vitamin B6, and vitamin C after head injuries. They also claim a fair percentage of prison inmates from psychiatric disorders after head injuries.
See this site for evidence of a correlation between magnesium deficiency and cancer. The taurate has been proposed as the best magnesium supplement. Since taurine is physiologically active, this may prove to not be the case long term. Taurine or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid is an acidic chemical substance sulfonated rather than carboxylated found in high abundance in the tissues of many animals (metazoa), especially sea animals. Taurine is also found in plants, fungi, and some bacterial species, but in far less abundance. It is an amine with a sulfonic acid functional group, but it is not an amino acid in the biological sense, not being one of the twenty protein-forming compounds encoded by the universal genetic code. Small polypeptides have been identified as containing taurine, but to date there has been no report of a transfer RNA that is specifically charged with taurine [from Wikipedia]. It is essential to babies and is the most abundant brain amino acid at birth. With maturation babies start to synthesize taurine and glutamate becomes the most abundant in the brain of adults. It is essential to adult cats. It has been found that supplements of the amino acid, taurine, will restore the abnormal electrocardiogram present during a potassium deficiency by an unknown mechanism. This information has been used in several case histories by George Eby to control a long standing type of cardiac arrhythmia called pre atrial contractions (PACs), a benign but irritating and nerve racking heart problem, with 2.5 grams of taurine with each meal. Taurine is said to be low in the diets of vegetarians. The 2.5 grams recommended by the American Heart Association causes diarrhea in some people and should probably be reduced in those people.

There is strong evidence that taurine could have beneficial affects on type I diabetes, and could reduce organ peroxidation and plasma lipids. The retina, lens, and nerves respond better to taurine than other organs [Franconi]. Taurine has been used for high blood pressure [Fujita], migraine headache (I suspect that less than 1000 milligrams can remove the headache caused by allergy to peanuts), high cholesterol, epilepsy, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease, liver disorders, alcoholism, and cystic fibrosis, and depression. Keep in mind that some people may have a genetic defect that limits the amount of taurine tolerated and that adequate molybdenum may desirable. Taurine may make a copper deficiency worse, based on a single case history [Brien Quirk, private communication]. This may be because taurine may be mobilizing copper and zinc into the plasma [Li]. So if you should decide to take taurine, make sure your copper intake is more than adequate, as well as your zinc. Taurine may be obtaind from health food stores as capsules.

A site is available which shows. foods which are high in one nutrient and low in another (including calories). This last site should be especially useful for a quick list of foods to consider first, or for those who must restrict another nutrient because of a genetic difficulty with absorption or utilization

You may find useful for definitions and easy to use a search for abstracts of journal references, "Gateway". You must click on “ MEDLINE/PubMed” or for definitions click on "find terms". or a list of medical search engines .

The very extensive USDA Handbook #8 may be seen here. To access the information you must press "enter" to search, and then divide Kcal into milligrams of potassium. This last table is very comprehensive, is used in search mode, and even lists the amino acids. There are also links in it to PDF types of printouts from the table for individual nutrients available here Just click on the “A” or “W” button for the nutrient you desire. A table that has already done the potassium calculation is here in descending concentration -- or -- in alphabetical order.

There is a free browser called Firefox, which is said to be less susceptible to viruses or crashes, has many interesting features, imports information from Iexplore while leaving Iexplore intact. You can also install their emailer. A feature that lists all the URLs on a viewed site can be useful when working on your own site.

There is a tool bar by Google that enables you to search the internet from the page viewed, mark desired words, search the site, give page rank, etc.---Google’s “scholar search site” is excellent for all types of references.

You may find useful and easy to use a search for abstracts of medical journal references, "Gateway".
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There is a free program available which tells on your site what web site accessed you, which search engine, statistics about which country, statistics of search engine access, keywords used and their frequency. It can be very useful.

The author has a degree in chemistry and a master of science degree in soil science. He has researched this subject for 40 years, primarily library research. He has cured his own early onset of rheumatoid arthritis. He has published articles on allied subjects in; The Journal of Theoretical Biology (1970, 1983), The Journal of Applied Nutrition (1974) which gained the best article of the year award, Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology (1983), and Medical Hypotheses (1984, 1999) This article is solely funded by the author and no advertisements are knowingly included.

Send email to Charles Weber; ----- isoptera at mchsi.com - or; phone = 828 692 5816

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