Potassium Deficiency Causes Diabetes
Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast
Dr. Eric Berg
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 October 2023
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we're going to talk about how potassium affects diabetes and high blood pressure.
Diuretics are commonly used to treat high blood pressure. But, they come with side effects, including an increased risk of developing diabetes.
On the flip side, ace inhibitors, also used to treat high blood pressure, protect against diabetes and lower the risk of diabetes.
I believe the big difference between these two drugs, when it comes to diabetes risk, is what they do to potassium.
Diuretics deplete potassium, and without enough potassium, insulin can't be released very well. A deficiency of insulin can then lead to diabetes. Ace inhibitors increase potassium by helping to prevent the loss of potassium.
So why do we even need a drug—why aren't we just consuming more potassium? Many people support healthy blood pressure and healthy blood sugar levels by taking potassium.
Benefits of potassium:
• It protects the kidneys
• It protects the heart
• It helps protect against stroke
• It helps protect against diabetes
• It helps power the nervous system in connection with the muscles
• It helps regulate sodium
The RDAs for potassium are 4700 mg. It might surprise you, but bananas aren't a good source of potassium. A few of the best sources of potassium are:
• Leafy greens
• Potatoes
• Avocado
• Electrolyte powder
DATA:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1619503/
https://ucfhealth.com/our-services/en...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let's talk about the relationship between potassium and diabetes. |
| 0:04.8 | Did you realize that a potassium deficiency could actually trigger a new onset of diabetes? |
| 0:10.7 | If you have diabetes or prediabetes or insulin resistance, this video is very, very important. |
| 0:15.8 | In fact, one of the common drugs, the first line of defense against high blood pressure |
| 0:21.6 | is these diuretics called thizide diuretics. |
| 0:26.9 | It's well known that they give you a risk of developing diabetes. |
| 0:32.1 | Now, you think that would discourage doctors from using it, but it's one of the big side effects. |
| 0:36.7 | These diuretics are used for hypertension, so that's why they use it. |
| 0:41.7 | On the flip side, there's another drug called an ACE inhibitor, which actually protects against |
| 0:47.5 | diabetes. It actually lowers your risk of getting diabetes, which is interesting, and it too is used |
| 0:53.5 | for blood pressure. Now, my question is, what's going on here? |
| 0:59.2 | Why would one increase the risk, and yet the other one decrease the risk? |
| 1:04.6 | And I believe it has everything to do with what these two drugs do to potassium. |
| 1:09.8 | First of all, the thizide diuretic depletes your potassium. |
| 1:14.6 | And if you are consuming a diet that is very low on potassium, like most people, |
| 1:19.0 | and you're taking this drug on top of that, |
| 1:21.8 | chances are you can end up with very low levels of potassium. |
| 1:25.5 | And without or not potassium, insulin can't be released too well. |
| 1:32.1 | So we have a lessened amount or production of insulin when we have low potassium. |
| 1:38.5 | Now, what's going to happen when we don't have enough insulin? |
| 1:41.4 | We're going to have higher levels of glucose in the blood. |
| 1:44.5 | What's the name of that? |
... |
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