Potassium Orotate — a supplement with a talent for reversing tissue damage throughout the body, including the brain
Potassium is an essential mineral throughout the biological world. Orotate is a raw material that the body uses to make DNA.
Potassium helps to regulate the amounts of water and
electrolytes in cells and plays an important role in nerve conduction
and muscle contraction. The Institute of Medicine recommends
that adults consume at least 4,700 mg/day of potassium. But most
Americans and Europeans consume far less than that.
Potassium orotate supplementation has been found to have a variety of applications in such areas as:
heart, liver, kidney, and lung damage
wound healing and skin ailments
viral hepatitis
growth and maturation
tuberculosis
diabetes
epilepsy
anxiety, depression, dizziness, and disorientation
bone fractures, dental cavities
blood circulation and muscular strength.
Read Potassium Orotate Monograph
Potassium orotate is a mineral salt that is normally found in small amounts in all living things. Each molecule of potassium
orotate consists of a molecule of orotic acid in which one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced by a potassium atom.
Orotate (orotic acid) is a biochemical substance made by all living cells. It is a necessary raw material for making the genetic
material: RNA and DNA.1
Potassium
is an essential mineral throughout the biological world, and is the
most prevalent positive-charged ion in animal cells. This element helps
to regulate the amounts of water and electrolytes in cells and plays an
important role in nerve conduction and muscle contraction.2
Disorders and symptoms linked to potassium deficiency include:2,3
diarrhea, increased urination, vomiting, muscle weakness, paralytic
ileus, cardiovascular and heartbeat abnormalities, decreased reflex
response, respiratory paralysis, growth retardation, diabetes and
insulin resistance, and rheumatoid arthritis.
The Institute of Medicine recommends that
adults consume at least 4,700 mg/day of potassium. But it is thought
that most Americans and Europeans consume far less than that.4
What we can’t tell you
In
the U.S. and some other industrialized countries, government agencies
like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have adopted censorship as a
method for intensifying their control over supplement users and their
suppliers. Thus, FDA regulations prohibit us from telling you that any
of our products are effective as medical treatments, even if they are, in fact, effective.
Accordingly, we will limit our discussion of potassium orotate to a brief summary of relevant research, and let you draw your
own conclusions about what medical conditions it may be effective in treating.
Potassium orotate’s history of use in clinical investigations dates back to the 1950s.5 It was found to be useful in a variety of medical areas, including:
liver damage
skin ailments
excess uric acid in the blood
heart damage
wounds
viral hepatitis
growth and maturation
lung damage
tuberculosis
diabetes
epilepsy
anxiety
bone fractures
kidney failure
blood circulation
Dr. Hans Nieper, the innovative German physician,6
popularized potassium orotate as a supplement during the 1970s and
1980s by using it to treat or prevent the following conditions:7,3
cardiovascular disease
wounds
immune suppression after surgery
Nieper considered orotates to be superior to carbonates, chlorides, sulfates, and other negative-charged ions as bioavailability
enhancers for minerals like potassium.3
Hans
Nieper was a controversial figure whose treatments were denounced by
many in the medical profession and were targeted by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration — despite the fact that these critics had done
essentially no investigation of these treatments, and despite the fact
that countless thousands of Nieper’s patients and followers found the
treatments to be superbly effective.6 Nieper died in 1998, but his influence lives on.
Other
researchers have also studied some of the medical applications of
potassium ororate. Let’s look briefly at these applications.
Liver damage and hepatitis
The liver is unusual among mammalian organs in that it can often recover from severe injuries by regenerating the damaged
tissue. Animal studies have shown that potassium orotate speeds up this repair process.8,9
Dental cavities
176 children were given potassium orotate supplements for two years. The treatment “improved the oral fluid resistance to
carbohydrate action” — that is, it prevented the development of cavities in teeth.10
Immunity to skin fungal infections
A 1989 study showed that potassium orotate, taken orally, stimulated the components of the immune system that fight fungal
infections on the soles of the feet. Vitamin B2, riboflavin, has a similar effect and might work synergistically with the orotate.11
Balance and inner ear function
Structures
in the inner ear, known as the ‘vestibular apparatus’, enable us to
keep our balance and sense of orientation as we move around.
Dysfunctions of the vestibular apparatus can cause dizziness,
disorientation, and nausea. In a Russian experiment, volunteers with a
low vestibular tolerance were exposed to ‘coriolis’ motions that
disrupted vestibular function. Potassium orotate (40
mg/kg-bodyweight/day during 12-14 days) “significantly increased
statokinetic tolerance and produced a protective effect on the central
nervous function against Coriolis acceleration” as assessed by EEG,
short-term memory, and mental performance.12 In other words, this supplement may be helpful for people who suffer bouts of dizziness and disorientation.
Anxiety
Potassium orotate can also reduce anxiety in stressful situations. When rats were given this supplement and then exposed to
situations that would normally have caused them to behave anxiously, they showed significantly less of this behavior.13
Athletic performance
In
experiments on 3-4-week-old rats it was shown that potassium orotate
supplementation for 30 days “accelerates the recovery of the working
capacity after maximal exercise, increases the content of ATP in the
muscles, and reduces the blood urea content”.14
Depression
Mouse
experiments have shown that potassium orotate (100 mg/kg) in oral doses
have an antidepressant activity. This antidepressant action is
accompanied by a psychostimulant effect.15
Conclusion
Are potassium orotate supplements useful for the conditions and purposes mentioned above? We aren’t allowed to tell you, so
you should take a look at some of the references cited here, and then decide for yourself.
