General Education: Potassium and Magnesium Notes from Mag Mir 2017

NOTES ON POTASSIUM AND MAGNESIUM

Fertilizers do not replace necessary minerals but are high in phosphorous, potassium, and nitrogen. Excess potassium and phosphorus are preferentially absorbed into plants inhibiting magnesium absorption.

Low potassium levels can increase urinary magnesium loss.

…common diuretics eliminate magnesium as well as potassium, leaving a person susceptible to arrhythmias.[i] However, it is only potassium depletion that is acknowledged, and patients on diuretics are routinely told to drink their orange juice. Most OJ these days is fortified with calcium, so a person may unwittingly deplete their magnesium even further by trying to supplement their potassium. The premise of this paper was to investigate why patients on antihypertensive treatment were at a higher risk for sudden death.

Magnesium deficiency exacerbates a potassium deficiency.

…it is impossible to overcome potassium deficiency without replacing magnesium. That’s why hospitals seem to have such a difficult time finding the right electrolyte balance of sodium, potassium, calcium, and chloride, because they ignore magnesium and do not routinely measure it in their electrolyte panels and when they do test for it, they use the inadequate Serum Magnesium test.

[i] Wills MR, “Magnesium and Potassium Inter-relationships in Cardiac Disorders.” Drugs vol. 31, suppl. 4, pp. 121–131, 1986.