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Ask most people where to get potassium and you will hear one answer: bananas. Bananas are a fine source, but they are not even close to the top of the list. A cup of lentils, a baked potato, or a handful of dried apricots each beats a banana, and most adults would benefit from eating more of all of them. Potassium is one of the most common shortfalls in the American diet, and it is one nutrient where your grocery cart matters far more than your supplement shelf.
Quick answer: adult men need about 3,400 mg of potassium a day and adult women about 2,600 mg, but the average American adult falls short. Food is the best way to close the gap, because over-the-counter potassium supplements are usually limited to 99 mg per serving. If you have kidney disease or take certain blood pressure medications, do not add potassium supplements or salt substitutes without talking to your doctor.
What Potassium Does
Potassium is an electrolyte, a mineral that carries an electrical charge. Your body uses it to keep fluid balanced inside your cells, send nerve signals, and contract muscles, including your heart. It also works as a counterweight to sodium. Higher potassium intake helps your kidneys excrete sodium and helps blood vessel walls relax, which is why potassium and blood pressure are so closely linked.
How Much You Need vs. How Much Americans Get
The current Adequate Intakes from the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements are:
- Men 19 and older: 3,400 mg
- Women 19 and older: 2,600 mg
- Pregnancy: 2,900 mg
- Breastfeeding: 2,800 mg
National survey data show average intakes of about 3,016 mg for men and 2,320 mg for women, so many adults are coming up short. The 2020 to 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans named potassium one of four dietary components of public health concern, along with calcium, vitamin D, and fiber.
One label quirk to know: the Daily Value on food and supplement labels is 4,700 mg, which is higher than the current Adequate Intakes. That means a food listed at 10% DV is giving you a bit more of your actual daily need than the percentage suggests.
Potassium and Blood Pressure
The link between potassium and blood pressure is one of the better-supported findings in nutrition:
- The DASH eating pattern, which is rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy, lowered blood pressure by about 5.5 points systolic and 3.0 points diastolic in clinical trials.
- A 2017 analysis of 25 trials in people with high blood pressure found that potassium supplementation lowered systolic pressure by about 4.5 points and diastolic by about 3.0 points.
- In the Salt Substitute and Stroke Study, published in 2021, nearly 21,000 older adults in rural China with a history of stroke or high blood pressure switched to a salt substitute made of 75% sodium chloride and 25% potassium chloride. Over about five years, they had 14% fewer strokes, 13% fewer major cardiovascular events, and 12% fewer deaths than those using regular salt.
It is hard to separate the effect of adding potassium from the effect of cutting sodium, since the two usually move together. Either way, the practical advice points in the same direction: more whole plant foods, less heavily salted processed food.
The Best Food Sources of Potassium
Here is how common foods compare, using NIH figures:
- Dried apricots, half cup: 755 mg
- Lentils, cooked, 1 cup: 731 mg
- Acorn squash, mashed, 1 cup: 644 mg
- Prunes, half cup: 635 mg
- Baked potato, 1 medium: 610 mg
- Kidney beans, canned, 1 cup: 607 mg
- Orange juice, 1 cup: 496 mg
- Banana, 1 medium: 422 mg
- Milk (1%), 1 cup: 366 mg
- Chicken breast, 3 ounces: 332 mg
- Salmon, 3 ounces: 326 mg
A day with oatmeal and dried fruit, a lentil or bean soup at lunch, and a baked potato with dinner can put you near your target without much effort. If you follow a plant-forward diet, you are likely ahead already, as we noted in our guide to nutrients worth watching on a plant-based diet.
Why Potassium Supplements Stop at 99 mg
If you have ever wondered why potassium supplements contain so little, the answer is safety history. The FDA found that some potassium chloride drug products providing more than 99 mg were linked to small bowel lesions. As a result, most over-the-counter potassium supplements contain 99 mg or less per serving, which is only about 2% of the Daily Value.
That is why you cannot meaningfully “top up” potassium with a pill the way you might with vitamin D. Prescription potassium, at higher doses, is used when a doctor is treating low blood levels and monitoring you.
Who Should Be Careful With Extra Potassium
Healthy kidneys are very good at getting rid of extra potassium from food. Problems arise when that system is impaired. Talk with your doctor before using potassium supplements or potassium-based salt substitutes if you:
- Have chronic kidney disease
- Take an ACE inhibitor (such as lisinopril or benazepril) or an angiotensin receptor blocker (such as losartan)
- Take a potassium-sparing diuretic such as spironolactone or amiloride
- Have type 1 diabetes, heart failure, adrenal insufficiency, or liver disease
The opposite problem, low potassium, is more likely if you take loop or thiazide diuretics, use laxatives often, or have chronic diarrhea. Mild low potassium can cause fatigue, constipation, and muscle weakness. Our posts on medications that lower nutrient levels and water vs. electrolytes for training cover related ground.
Where a Daily Multivitamin Fits
Most multivitamins, including our Vitamin100 Multivitamin, are not meant to be potassium sources, and that is by design. The amounts you need are measured in thousands of milligrams, which is food territory. What a multivitamin can do is cover nutrients that are harder to get consistently, like the 420 mg of magnesium in Vitamin100, another mineral that works alongside potassium in muscle and nerve function.
Think of it as a two-part plan: let a balanced multivitamin handle the small-dose essentials, and let beans, potatoes, fruit, and vegetables handle potassium.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do bananas have the most potassium?
No. A medium banana has about 422 mg, which is good, but dried apricots, lentils, acorn squash, prunes, baked potatoes, and kidney beans all provide more per serving.
Can you get too much potassium from food?
For healthy adults, it is very unlikely, because the kidneys excrete the excess. People with kidney disease or those taking medications that hold on to potassium can develop high blood potassium even from normal diets, so they should follow their doctor’s guidance.
Should I switch to a salt substitute?
Potassium-based salt substitutes lowered stroke risk in a large trial, and they can help many people cut sodium. But they are not safe for everyone. If you have kidney disease or take an ACE inhibitor, ARB, or potassium-sparing diuretic, ask your doctor first.
What are the signs of low potassium?
Mild low potassium can cause fatigue, muscle weakness, and constipation. More severe drops can cause muscle paralysis and dangerous heart rhythm problems. Low blood potassium is usually caused by medications or fluid losses rather than diet alone, so it should be checked and treated by a doctor.
The Bottom Line
Potassium is one of the nutrients Americans most often fall short on, and it plays a real role in healthy blood pressure. The fix is mostly on your plate: beans, lentils, potatoes, squash, dried fruit, and dairy. Supplements are capped at small doses for good reason, and anyone with kidney disease or on certain blood pressure medications should talk with a doctor before adding potassium in any form.
Sources
- Potassium: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals, NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, accessed 2026
- Effect of Salt Substitution on Cardiovascular Events and Death, Neal et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2021
- 4 essential nutrients: Are you getting enough?, Harvard Health Publishing, accessed 2026
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is for general education and is not a substitute for advice from your healthcare provider.