If it is due to tracking your weight and you just tell people to take potassium, they will not lose weight.
The dropout rate is significant too, both in general and in the specific case of this being a self-selecting sample of readers of a blog promoting fringe theories around weight loss(1). One way to get a statistically significant sample for a weight loss treatment being apparently effective is for people to be most likely to drop out of an experiment without submitting any further data the day the scales give them the disappointing news that they've put the pounds they lost back on again.
Potassium is apparently already marketed as a weight loss supplement, so I'm guessing there are other studies of varying but generally better quality floating around though...
(1)its rather tortuous reasoning why America's obesity rise can't be linked to the rise in average calorie consumption has been posted on here before...
I think most (certainly not all) folks agree with the general "people gain weight because they're eating too many calories". I think the interesting question is "Why did people seem to start doing this now?"
Ice cream and butter and so on are not new inventions. We as a species have never hurt for desserts or calorie dense foods. So what change is it in our environment which seems to be causing the increased intake in calories?
And some of the usual suspects that get trotted out: sweetened soft drinks served in huge quantities for basically free, extremely processed foods with surprising calorie density that still leave you hungry, maybe changes in some of the ingrediants we're using, so on.
I suspect, given that lots of intelligent people have worked really hard on this and haven't landed on an obvious single answer, that it's a big combination of things. The more I talk to obese people the more I'm convinced there's some sort of sociological or psychological element as well as a food element.
I'm sure there are individuals with metabolic issues that aren't related to their diet and it's not impossible that the "contaminants" this blog is obsessed with play some role. But I also think that sunspot activity plays some role in climate, and I wouldn't expect to stunning breakthroughs in sunspot science from a climate-skeptic blog motivated primarily with proving that the major step change over the last century that's consistent with the theory and the data can't possibly have made much of a difference...
I doubt it. Potassium chloride is the active ingredient in lethal injections, too much and it will stop your heart.
Wikipedia lists the LD50 of oral potassium at 2.6 g/kg. Meaning your standard 70kg dude would have to eat 182 grams (6.4 oz Freedom Units) to hit that limit. Which would be just beyond horrible to attempt to consume that in a sitting.
Having said that, most by mouth potassium supplements are delayed release so you don’t get it all at once (and absorption already slows things down a lot).
https://research.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SOP-KC...
Apparently if you ingest ~25grams of _table salt_ your life might be at risk.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5537768/
I'd imagine Potassium might be a bit more toxic in lesser doses.
They are. In general with drugs, you want evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the benefits outweigh the risks. And double blind studies are the way to go.
But potassium salt is just not that risky. I bet Tylenol or Ibuprofen are riskier. These guys put the result out there. They explain the protocol (increase dose only if absolutely comfortable). Some people might try and succeed. Some might try and fail. But it's very unlikely some people will try and suffer a heart attack, or some other dangerous side effect.
Of course, please don't take medical advice from me, a random person on the internet. If you decide to try this, it would be best to discuss it first with your physician.