Potassium RDA Table
| Life stage | Adequate intake (mg/day) |
|---|---|
| Infant 0–6 mo | 400 |
| Infant 7–12 mo | 860 |
| 1–3 years | 2,000 |
| 4–8 years | 2,300 |
| 9–13 years | 2,300 |
| 14–18 years | 3,000 (M) / 2,300 (F) |
| 19+ years | 3,400 (M) / 2,600 (F) |
| Pregnancy | 2,900 |
| Lactation | 2,800 |
| Food | Portion | mg | %DV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potato, baked, with skin | 1 medium | 926 | 20% |
| Acorn squash, cooked | 1 cup | 896 | 19% |
| Spinach, cooked | 1 cup | 839 | 18% |
| Prune juice | 1 cup | 707 | 15% |
| Orange juice | 1 cup | 496 | 11% |
| Banana | 1 medium | 422 | 9% |
| Salmon, Atlantic | 3 oz | 390 | 8% |
| Yogurt, plain, low-fat | 8 oz | 380 | 8% |
| Beef chuck roast | 3 oz | 315 | 7% |
Potassium is the quiet half of the blood-pressure equation: the 2019 National Academies reset set the adult adequate intake at 3,400 mg for men and 2,600 for women - and most American diets deliver barely half of it, because the cheapest calories on the shelf (refined grain, processed meat, cheese) are exactly the ones that carry none. The gap is not exotic: one baked potato with skin covers 27% of the male target.
Read the table's fine print carefully: these are AIs (adequate intake), not RDAs - the evidence could not pin an exact requirement, so the panel set a healthy-intake floor instead. The old 4,700 mg one-size figure you still see on label math is gone from the science but survives in the %DV column, which is why a 926 mg potato that reads 20% DV is really 27% of a man's modern target. Trust the milligrams, not the percentage.
The warning half of this page is not about deficiency: healthy kidneys dump excess potassium within hours, which is why food carries no upper limit at all. The danger lives in concentrated forms - supplements and 'low sodium' salt substitutes are pharmaceutical-grade potassium chloride, and for kidney patients and people on ACE inhibitors that extra load can push blood potassium into the arrhythmia zone. The table is a food plan, not a supplement plan.
How to use
- Find your row in the age table - 3,400 mg for adult men, 2,600 for women, 2,900 in pregnancy - and treat it as a daily floor to reach from food, not a pill target to exceed.
- Build the day from the food table: potato or squash at dinner (about 900 mg), spinach or another cooked green (about 840), a banana or orange juice at breakfast (about 450), yogurt or salmon later - four picks and the floor is met without touching a supplement.
- If you have kidney disease, take ACE inhibitors, or use a 'no sodium' salt substitute, the math changes: the substitute IS potassium chloride, so count it, and clear the target with your clinician - the same number that protects a healthy heart stresses a filtered one.
Frequently asked questions
How much potassium do I need per day?
The 2019 adequate intake: 3,400 mg a day for men and 2,600 for women from age 19; 3,000 and 2,300 for teens 14-18; 2,300 from ages 4-13; 2,000 at 1-3; 860 for 7-12-month infants and 400 for 0-6 months. Pregnancy raises the target to 2,900 and breastfeeding to 2,800. These are adequate-intake floors set by the National Academies, not exact requirements - the honest answer to 'is it enough' is a food log, not a blood test.
What foods are highest in potassium?
The leaders by real portions: a medium baked potato with skin, 926 mg; a cup of cooked acorn squash, 896; a cup of cooked spinach, 839; a cup of prune juice, 707; a cup of orange juice, 496; a medium banana, 422; 3 ounces of Atlantic salmon, 390; a cup of plain low-fat yogurt, 380. Note the pattern the banana myth hides: the potato, squash and spinach rows all beat the banana by double - the fruit is a fine snack, not the potassium king.
Is potassium the same as the 'sodium-free salt' in the shaker?
Not the same molecule, same mineral: salt substitutes are mostly potassium chloride standing in for sodium chloride. That makes them the fastest potassium upgrade on the table - about half a teaspoon swaps over 1,000 mg of sodium for a similar load of potassium - and simultaneously the sharpest edge on this page, because the potassium arrives as a concentrate rather than inside food. Kidney disease, ACE inhibitors and potassium-sparing diuretics all slow the exit route, so the substitute is a clinician conversation, not a free swap.
Do I need a potassium supplement?
Almost never by choice. Food carries no upper limit because healthy kidneys shed the excess within hours, but supplements are capped and regulated precisely because the concentrated form bypasses that slow-drip delivery - the US even limits over-the-counter potassium pills to 99 mg per tablet (about 3% of the adult target) for a reason. Reaching 3,400 mg from food is a plate-planning problem the food table solves; pills are for documented deficiency under care, especially alongside the DASH pattern for blood pressure.
What does potassium actually do in the body?
It sets the electrical gradients that make nerves fire and muscles - including the heart - contract, and in the diet it works as sodium's counterweight: higher potassium intake nudges the kidneys to excrete sodium and relaxes blood-vessel walls, which is why the DASH trials found the sodium-potassium ratio predicts blood pressure better than sodium alone. The deficiency signs arrive gradually: weakness, fatigue, constipation, then cramps - and true hypokalemia usually reflects losses (vomiting, diuretics) rather than a diet that simply fell short.