Any biochemists here who want to speculate about potential mechanisms? I can't help thinking about the connection between potassium and insulin -- insulin pushes potassium into cells, to the extent that insulin is the standard treatment for hyperkalemia -- but I can't see how that would result in changes in appetite (which I assume is responsible for the weight loss here).
People took some potassium and lost some weight
31–40 of 156 posts
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#32There’s this study from a few years ago: Increment in Dietary Potassium Predicts Weight Loss in the Treatment of the Metabolic Syndrome – https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/6/1256
(EDIT) Some additional articles:
* https://www.atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-9150(1...
* https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
* https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-n...
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#33If its the potassium, you could test the idea with something else like bananas. I remember hearing years ago that Weight Watchers had reformulated their diet and one of the changes was that you could eat "unlimited" bananas. My personal anecdote is I eat a lot of bananas (at least one a day almost every day) and a few potatoes and I'm actually having a bit of trouble keeping my weight _high_ enough (150lbs for 5'10"…
I'm similar. Do you get low blood sugar easily? It seems like people who's bodily readily release insulin (maybe too much) have a hard time gaining weight. Explains why prediabetics gain weight?
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#34Any time you have people start tracking their weight, it’s not surprising that they might start paying attention to their diet and lose some weight. Without a placebo or control group, these numbers aren’t really useful.
> Without a placebo or control group, these numbers aren’t really useful. They are. In general with drugs, you want evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the benefits outweigh the risks. And double blind studies are the way to go. But potassium salt is just not that risky. I bet Tylenol or Ibuprofen are riskier. These guys put the result out there. They explain the protocol (increase dose only if absolutely comfortab…
But potassium salt is just not that risky. I bet Tylenol or Ibuprofen are riskier.
I doubt it. Potassium chloride is the active ingredient in lethal injections, too much and it will stop your heart.
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I lost 50 pounds in 2020 with this one trick: I counted calories and stayed under 2100 per day. I didn’t even pay attention to what kinds of food I ate. That came automatically as I would look at a treat and think, “130 calories? That’s so expensive.” I naturally learned what foods made me feel full for longer. It was fun. Diet can be complicated, but I have a feeling that for most of us, it really doesn’t need to be…
I’m quite surprised you haven’t been accosted with the “calories in, calories out isn’t real” yet. Fwiw it is how I and others I know have lost significant amounts of weight. There was a “keto” thread on hn the other day and holy moly was keto/calories in, calories out attacked and rebuked.
IIRC the way calories are measured for food is pretty simplistic, and calories in, calories out isn't terribly accurate.
I can imagine it still helps a lot with weight loss, I myself lost ~20lbs a while back counting calories. But like a lot of diets that take some effort to maintain, seems like they probably aren't easy to keep up long term vs. generally eating more healthy and building habits around exercise.
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#36If its the potassium, you could test the idea with something else like bananas. I remember hearing years ago that Weight Watchers had reformulated their diet and one of the changes was that you could eat "unlimited" bananas. My personal anecdote is I eat a lot of bananas (at least one a day almost every day) and a few potatoes and I'm actually having a bit of trouble keeping my weight _high_ enough (150lbs for 5'10"…
Based on personal experience this depends on the ripeness of banana. As the banana ripens all the starch gets converted into sugar
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#37Random potassium trivia:
Pot ash manufacturing was an extremely important industry in many countries worldwide from the 1400s-1800s, and potash a highly valuable trade commodity. Mainly for it's use in agriculture as a fertilizer because potassium is an essential plant nutrient.
Potash was originally made from wood ashes by soaking the ashes in liquid and drying it out, leaving an alkali potash residue. Nowadays it is mined deep underground by circulating liquid into the deposits, then evaporated in surface-level industrial ponds.
The first U.S. patent of any kind was issued in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process". The patent was signed by President George Washington.
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m quite surprised you haven’t been accosted with the “calories in, calories out isn’t real” yet. Fwiw it is how I and others I know have lost significant amounts of weight. There was a “keto” thread on hn the other day and holy moly was keto/calories in, calories out attacked and rebuked.
Then why not just eat nothing? That way you only have to focus on the calories out portion? Obviously, some people find it much harder at this than others. Some average-sized adult males get overweight with just 1300-1700/calories a day due to slow metabolisms or other genetic factors.
Some people have such slow metabolism that they still get overweight when eating nothing.
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Without a placebo or control group, these numbers aren’t really useful. They are. In general with drugs, you want evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the benefits outweigh the risks. And double blind studies are the way to go. But potassium salt is just not that risky. I bet Tylenol or Ibuprofen are riskier. These guys put the result out there. They explain the protocol (increase dose only if absolutely comfortab…
But potassium salt is just not that risky. I bet Tylenol or Ibuprofen are riskier. I doubt it. Potassium chloride is the active ingredient in lethal injections, too much and it will stop your heart.
Too much tylenol will destroy your liver. The dose makes the poison. I've been prescribed potassium chloride tablets before.
Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight
#40If its the potassium, you could test the idea with something else like bananas. I remember hearing years ago that Weight Watchers had reformulated their diet and one of the changes was that you could eat "unlimited" bananas. My personal anecdote is I eat a lot of bananas (at least one a day almost every day) and a few potatoes and I'm actually having a bit of trouble keeping my weight _high_ enough (150lbs for 5'10"…
A quick search is showing bananas have ~400 mg potassium. The study goal was to consume 2600 mg daily potassium, or the equivalent of 6.5 bananas. Bananas also have ~100 kCals, so that would require consuming 600 kCals daily to try and hit the potassium target.
It is worth remembering that potassium was identified as a potential target from their potato diet experiment. Potatoes have ~900 mg potassium.