What do the states mean?+
- Solid: well studied, and it works.
- Half-there: the science is still forming.
- A ghost: almost no real studies.
- Hollow: well studied, and it does not work.
- A cord: the pair itself has been tested together.
- Air: nobody has ever tested this pair.
The full scoring method: How we score
Potassium benefits: where the science stands
For blood pressure: not settled yet.
Blood pressure is what most people take potassium for, and the strongest evidence says it helps (a combined review covering 32 trials). As of August 2026, the verdicts on this page rest on evidence from 59 trials, drawn from the strongest research among the 3,580 papers on PubMed that mention potassium. Every claim is checked below.
3,580 papers on PubMed · evidence from 59 trials
Claim by claim
- Blood pressureThe science is still forming. Results lean positive, but there is not much yet.
- HeartThe science is still forming. The best studies disagree.
Pairs people ask about
The three sources we read
- 2016Meta-analysis · pools 22 trials, 1,086 people · no clear effect on heartsource
- 2020Meta-analysis · pools 32 trials · small benefit for blood pressuresource
- 2023Meta-analysis · pools 5 trials, 332 people · small benefit for heartsource
Chosen as the strongest evidence out of 3,580 papers on PubMed. Every row links to its paper.
Fair questions
Does potassium work?+
For blood pressure, it is not settled. Results lean positive, but there is not much yet.
Is potassium safe?+
No caution is recorded on this page. That is not a safety guarantee; the studies we read were not safety trials.
Why only 3 sources, when PubMed lists 3,580?+
The 3,580 is every paper that mentions potassium in any way: animal studies, blood measurements, papers where it is a side note. The strongest sources are combined reviews, and each one already gathers every trial its authors could find. Our 3 cover 59 trials between them, and every one is linked above. Both counts are measured, not estimated.