Hacker News Reader

Comment by lblume | Hacker News Reader

I always wondered why a mix of sodium and potassium salts aren't the norm. The slightly higher cost and somewhat less "salty" taste are really insignificant compared to the huge health benefits. And yet, I still can't buy any potassium salt in my local supermarket. Really hope this catches on.

View on HN

I'm never had any trouble finding potassium-enriched salt. But also, it really does have quite a different taste from regular salt. Having done both, I'd much rather just use less salt than deal with the sour, slightly off taste of potassium-enriched salt.

Fair. But, according to the linked article and the study, most people disagree and would rather use the same amount of enriched salt than less in total. I find the retention rate especially noteworthy.

The one that I use has "polyglutamate" additives, and that's the only one surviving in market environment. KCl only taste similar to salt, not practically identical to NaCl at all.

Not salt, but Mrs Dash has potassium and can be used as part of the DASH diet.

It tastes pretty good but it does have herbs and spices so it’s not versatile like salt. You can’t add Mrs Dash to everything

> Mrs Dash has potassium

Are you sure? Their Original version does not have any added potassium: https://mrsdash.com/products/original-blend/

None of the other flavors I checked have any either. Do they sell other products that have added potassium?

Here.

https://mrsdash.ca/product/mrs-dash-original-blend/

I just noticed that this is Mrs Dash in Canada (where I’m from). Curious why the US version is different?

Edit: check other flavors on the US site other than original blend, like tomato basil. They all have 10mg potassium.

Thanks for the response. As best as I can tell, the potassium is naturally occurring in the dried garlic, red pepper, and onion. In neither country is there any added potassium. Possibly the formulation is the same and the two countries just have slightly different thresholds for what must be listed.

Probably because you’ll die if you eat too much.

From what I heard, hyperkalemia is much less of an issue than high unregulated sodium intake for a large majority of the population. The highlighted issue of toxicity in high doses applies to many household foods in general, and I wouldn't think a slightly less salty salt could be posing the highest dangers. Happy to be corrected by more medically-versed people though.

Hyperkalemia can kill you. So can hypernatremia, but we have thirst mechanisms that respond very well to that. Most people who eat more sodium get thirsty, drink more, and then urinate it out.

How much?

I think that says more about your local supermarket than the availability of the product. Nu-Salt has been available for years at most supermarkets. Although I will say that my closet grocery store only has the 50% stuff and not the fully sodium free stuff.

This may also be a European issue. I live in Germany, we have dozens of brands of flavored salt for specific applications (e.g. scrambled eggs, chips or even feta cheese), most containing iodine, but outside of specialized stores none contain any potassium.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com