Potassium chloride

Studies in people

• Concern

  Blood potassium levels¹

  In people with kidney disease, potassium chloride raised blood potassium, and some developed high potassium levels.

• Concern

  Dietary potassium limits³

  In people with chronic kidney disease, eating bread made with potassium chloride pushed about a third past safe potassium limits.

Animal and lab studies only

• Concern

  Blood pressure⁹

  In animal studies, chloride sometimes raised blood pressure, but the panel trusted human data more.

Study type not stated

• Concern

  Blood pressure and stroke risk⁷

  Swapping salt for potassium chloride may help some people but puts far more at risk, scientists say.

• Benefit

  Salt in everyday foods⁸

  Swapping some salt for potassium chloride in common foods could cut how much sodium people eat.

How it’s made and used

• Potassium intake from food²

  Swapping salt for potassium chloride in foods like bread and processed meat raised how much potassium people got.

• Taste of salt substitutes⁴

  People found potassium chloride tastes bitter, chemical and metallic, but mixing it with regular salt made those off-tastes weaker.

• Salt reduction in kimchi⁵

  Adding potassium chloride to low-salt kimchi helps replace the missing salty taste, though older and younger eaters react differently.

• Taste and texture of sausages⁶

  Adding potassium chloride to leaner, less salty sausages barely changed how much people liked them.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least two findings in people. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.