Low Potassium Levels More Common in Women

According to Ernestine A. Wright, M.D., FACP, board-certified primary care doctor with Mercy Personal Physicians Downtown in Baltimore, estrogen and progesterone play a role in women’s body composition changes as they age. Those changes can also affect a woman's potassium level, particularly in most patients 65 and older.

The most common symptom of low potassium is muscle weakness in the lower part of the body, Dr. Wright explained. People may also experience heart palpitations, and, in some cases, low potassium can cause a person to feel tired and weary.

"We want your potassium level ideally to be between 4-4.5 minimal per liter. So, if somebody comes in who stays on a blood-pressure medication, that does tend to lower their potassium levels," Dr. Wright said. "If your potassium level is less than 3.5, we would tend to prescribe potassium supplements to try to get it up to the optimum levels in addition to advising you to eat foods that are high in potassium."

It is well known that bananas contain potassium, but Dr. Wright also recommends eating citrus fruits, such as oranges, and leafy greens, like spinach and collard greens. Tomatoes and prunes are also on the list of foods with high potassium.

View Mercy’s Dr. Ernestine Wright’s interview regarding women and low potassium levels.