Potassium citrate is one form of the mineral potassium, a positively charged ion that plays a role in fluid and electrolyte balance in the body.


Potassium is also essential in controlling muscle activity, particularly contraction and coordination of muscles. It plays an important role in nerve transmission and maintaining heart rhythm as well.



In addition, potassium helps to convert glucose into glycogen, which is stored as the body’s short-term energy reserve. Deficiencies of potassium citrate can cause muscular problems and confusion.



95% of the potassium found within the human body is located within all the cells of the body and works in conjunction with sodium, which is found outside the cells, to regulate such important aspects of peak physical health as maintaining healthy blood pressure, reducing the risk of kidney stones, offsetting the effects of table salt on the body and preventing osteoporosis.



The addition of oral potassium citrate to a high-salt diet prevented the increased excretion of urine calcium and the bone resorption marker caused by a high salt intake. Increased intake of dietary sources of potassium alkaline salts, namely fruit and vegetables, may be beneficial for postmenopausal women at risk for osteoporosis, particularly those consuming a diet generous in sodium chloride.



It’s been common knowledge that eating fruits and vegetables is good for you, but now there is yet another reason to eat your peas (or bananas). A new study from St. George’s Medical School in London, published in the April 2005 issue of Hypertension, compared the blood-pressure-lowering effects of potassium chloride against the effects of potassium citrate. The results of this study showed that potassium citrate has the same blood-pressure-lowering effect as potassium chloride, which has been proven in the past to lower blood pressure. Potassium chloride, however, must be taken as a dietary supplement, whereas potassium citrate is found naturally in many foods.