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Product Review: Potassium Supplements

HOW PRODUCTS WERE EVALUATED:

How Products were Selected:
Products selected represent those commonly sold and/or available nationally in the U.S. ConsumerLab.com purchased products on the open market through retail stores, on-line retailers, and direct sales or multi-level marketing companies. Products were not accepted directly from manufacturers.

Testing Methods:
Products were tested for their ability to disintegrate, claimed amount of potassium, and for potential contamination with lead. Analyses for potassium and lead was performed using an ICP-MS (inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy).

Disintegration of non-chewable, non-capsule, non-enteric coated and non-time-release formulations was analyzed utilizing USP (United States Pharmacopeia) <2040> recommendations.

Products not having passing levels of key ingredients or contaminants were re-tested in a second independent laboratory using similar methods and instrumentation. All testing was conducted by independent laboratories to which the identities of the products were not disclosed.

Passing Score:*
To pass testing, a product had to:

Have a minimum of 100% of its labeled amount of elemental potassium and a maximum of 125% of this amount.
Meet recommended USP parameters for disintegration for dietary supplements (excluding capsule, enteric coated, chewable and time-release products).
Contain less than 0.5 mcg of lead per daily serving with an additional allowance of 1.0 mcg for supplements containing 1,000 mg/day or more of elemental calcium and 0.5 mcg for supplements containing specific other minerals.** For supplements not marketed for use by children, ConsumerLab.com provides an additional allowance of 0.5 mcg if containing 250 to 499 mg/day of elemental calcium, or 1.0 mcg if containing 500 to 999 mg/day of elemental calcium, and an allowance of 0.5 mcg if containing one whole herb (not extract) ingredient or 1.0 mcg for two or more whole herb ingredients. If a maximum recommended daily serving is not defined, a daily serving size will be determined and applied by CL.
Meet FDA labeling requirements.

* Passing scores allow for specific margins of technical error associated with each analysis. ConsumerLab.com reserves the right to disqualify a product at any time from passing its testing if it considers such product to present a safety risk or to provide misleading or inaccurate information in its labeling.

** Based on State of California's Prop 65 lead limit. California requires supplements exceeding this limit to bear a warning label regarding lead.

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