Talk:Potassium citrate

Potassium Citrate may be used to control Uric acid kidney stones.

Potassium Citrate is also used in soft drinks, such as 7up.

Chemical Formula: C6H5K3O7 + H2O

Appearence: A white, slightly hygroscopic crystalline powder. It is odourless with a saline taste.

Uses: Potassium Citrate is rapidly absorbed when given by mouth and is excreted in the urine as the Carbonate. It is, therefore, effective in reducing pain and frequency of micturition when these are caused by highly acid urine. It is used for this purpose in dogs and cats, but is chiefly employed as a non-irritating diuretic. In common with other substances which render the urine alkaline, it may be used to reduce the danger of crystalluria during sulfonamide therapy. Potassium Citrate is usually administered by mouth in dilute aqueous solution.

Amount allowed in tablets/capsules?
This section of the article is either worded badly or is just flat-out wrong for the US (and in that case needs to be clarified):
 * The maximum amount of potassium citrate allowed by law in a tablet or capsule is only 99 mg (approximately 3% of the daily allowance). This is because of its somewhat caustic effect on the stomach lining, and the potential for other mild health hazards.

I take Potassium Citrate myself and the pills are 1080mg each, well past the 99mg that the article claims. According to the site here the medicine (under the brand name Urocit-k) is available in 540mg and 1080mg pills. Perhaps what the article is trying to say is that 99mg is the maximum allowed in non-prescription products? --Maestro4k 19:07, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

I edited the main page. The maximum amount of potassium is 99mg. Potassium Citrate is 32.28% potassium which would allow for approx 305 mg of calcium.

Also your pills that are 1080 mg are very most likely not 100% Potassium Citrate. There are fillers and other stuff in there to make a tablet. Check the label as to exactly how much is in it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.232.168.14 (talk) 21:02, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Correction: 1080mg potassium citrate is 10mEq, a common amount for a dose of potassium citrate. The fillers wouldn't be included in that mass.

My dog (A 4kg Mini Schnauzer) gets two 250mg doses per day of potassium citrate (cut about 1:50 with dextrose powder), to control bladder stones. I agree the 99mg per day limit is not credible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.158.50.173 (talk) 15:42, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I've been taking urocit-K since 1997 and if you'd look at the label you'll see that the 1080 is mcg NOT mg. I take 3 each day and when I first got the prescription I questioned by so many mg but was shown the correct measurement. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Samwild (talk • contribs) 12:06, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Correction: 1080mg is a common dosage for Urocit-K. 1080mcg is not. You were right when you said 1080mg.



I removed this text from the Administration section: "In the United-States, in states where non-prescription potassium citrate is legal, the maximum allowable over-the-counter (OTC) dose for elemental potassium is regulated by the FDA to be no more than 100 mg (approximately 3% of the daily allowance).[citation needed]". The FDA's e-CFR Title 21 Chapter I B Part 184 B 184.1625 concludes with: "the ingredient is used in food with no limitation other than current good manufacturing practice.  (d) Prior sanctions for this ingredient different from the uses established in this section, or different from those set forth in part 181 of this chapter, do not exist or have been waived.  [59 FR 63896, Dec. 12, 1994]". Robin Whittle (talk) 02:06, 5 July 2017 (UTC)

Firefighting?
Before I add it isn't it true that Potassium citrate and potassium acetate are used in fire extinguishers for class K fires? I think thats worth mentioning in the uses section.

metabolic acidosis
Can't you also use this to treat metabolic acidosis? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Interestedperson (talk • contribs) 23:09, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

also good for calcium stones
The most common type of kidney stone (80% of all) is calcium oxalate. The article suggests that potassium citrate is only beneficial for "uric acid" or "cystine" stones. (These are the stones associated with gout. That seems to be true. It even appears that potassium citrate might even help dissolve uric acid stones. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19911683

However, my review of recent articles in the published urology literature indicates that potassium citrate also prevents calcium oxalate stones. See, for example:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19911682

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19918339

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15499203

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9366314

Sorry I didn't alter the article myself. I'm not very skillful and I don't have a wikipedia account.

I don't think other wikipedia articles related to kidney stones include this information, which appears to be a rather recent development in medicine. 68.127.233.221 (talk) 22:36, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Can someone please add this info to the article?!?! BE BOLD!!! This is the first time I've ever typed a thing into wikipedia and have no idea about formatting or etiquette in the articles, but this is important info that can help people that are in pain. Please someone. Potassium Citrate is a seriously helpful treatment for calcium oxalate stones. This and many other articles across wikipedia need some up-to-date info on this painful condition. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.123.118.198 (talk) 05:54, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Potassium citrate without a pill
can you get potassium citrate from food? I do not like to take pills, I want to go natural. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.247.145.189 (talk) 18:51, 24 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Not liking pills is an irrational thing in itself, although it's understandable for potassium citrate. I suppose you could take it as a liquid after food, although it'd probably be more expensive that way. --IO Device (talk) 19:58, 22 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, it's available in both food and drink. It's found in bananas, though you'd need to eat 2 or 3 per day to get a similar dosage to that available in prescription pills. Similarly it's artificially added to 7up and some lemonade flavorings (I've seen Crystal Light powder mentioned as a source). Again, you'd need to drink several liters of either every day to match the amount found in 1-2 prescription pills. Assuming you're trying to consume potassium citrate to avoid kidney stones drinking 3-4 liters of lemonade isn't a bad idea, but the cumulative sugar intake becomes very concerning very quickly. There are of course sugar free options (Crystal Light being one of them) but if your concerns are for being more 'natural' then drinking an artificially sweetened and flavored drink probably isn't high on your list of options. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Necoras (talk • contribs) 18:48, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here. Maximum and careful attention was done to avoid any wrongly tagging any categories, but mistakes may happen... If you have concerns, please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 01:14, 4 July 2008 (UTC) What about side effects? Are there any? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kioann74 (talk • contribs) 09:06, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Percentage of potassium in potassium citrate
I think the number 32.28% in the "Administration" section is wrong: Standard atomic weight of potassium is 39.10 g/mol, molar mass of potassium citrate is 306.4 g/mol, so I get a percentage of (3*39.1)/306.4 = 38.28%. Correct? —Preceding unsigned comment added by BlackGuffin (talk • contribs) 13:43, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Adequate Intake (AI) for potassium in North America
Currently, there is no RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for potassium in the USA or Canada. Instead, in 2004 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) stated that for adults an AI (Adequate Intake) for elemental potassium is 4.7 g (4700 mg) per day. See Dietary reference intakes for water, potassium, sodium, chloride, and sulfate; IOM; first published 11 Feb 2004; http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2004/Dietary-Reference-Intakes-Water-Potassium-Sodium-Chloride-and-Sulfate.aspx 101.163.17.98 (talk) 11:18, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

Dosage seems high
The article currently states that the adult dosage is 3 to 6 teaspoons. But 6 teaspoons of potassium citrate contains about 13,000 mg of potassium, far exceeding the 4,700 mg Recommended Daily Allowance. Please, could someone check those figures or find a reference? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.50.127.215 (talk) 22:57, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

"In the monohydrate form it is highly hygroscopic and deliquescent."
Need I say more? monohydrate - a hydrate containing one molecule of water for every molecule of the compound. hygroscopic - Tends to absorb moisture.

deliquescent - Likes to be a liquid.

Shouldn't these highly-technical terms (aka, "Technobabble") - have links to something descriptive or a definition the average person can comprehend? As written, I'm sure there are VERY few people who can make sense of it. And Jimmy wonders why people aren't contributing like they used to. Here is one of the reasons. 98.194.39.86 (talk) 04:43, 27 August 2018 (UTC)