It's a nutrient whose name has been tossed around about as much as a hot potato— potassium. As an element on the Periodic table, this electrolyte is key to nerve and muscle tissue function as well as several other functions in the body— much like sodium. Unlike sodium, however, "the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans identifies potassium as a 'nutrient of public health concern,'" as stated on the U.S. Dept. of Health and Services' online "Fact Sheet for Health Professionals" on Potassium. This nation-wide deficiency is due to the minimal amount of potassium in even the most nutrient-rich whole foods. A banana, for instance, has approximately 450 mg of potassium per fruit and is a dwarfed by the daily recommendation of 4500mg. That's nearly ten banana's to get the minimum recommendation!

When I first heard about this nutrient and the steep challenges most faced in consuming enough, my knee-jerk reaction was to take a supplement alongside my diet of nutrient-dense, whole-foods. To my surprise, however, the highest dosage of potassium on the market was 99 mg— less than a fourth of what's in a banana! I found this strange, since most supplements will contain the daily recommended amount (or close to it). My multi-vitamin, NatureMade's Multi For Her, contains 180 mg of vitamin C, for instance. Vitamin A, which one can easily consume too much of on a whole-foods diet, is present in this supplement at 50 percent of the daily recommended amount. But why, I thought, is potassium so low?