Potassium citrate
Encyclopedia
Potassium citrate is a potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...

 salt of citric acid
Citric acid
Citric acid is a weak organic acid. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic, or sour, taste to foods and soft drinks...

 with the molecular formula C6H5K3O7. It is a white, slightly hygroscopic crystalline powder. It is odorless with a saline
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

 taste.

As a food additive
Food additive
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines...

, potassium citrate is used to regulate acidity and is known as E number
E number
E numbers are number codes for food additives that have been assessed for use within the European Union . They are commonly found on food labels throughout the European Union. Safety assessment and approval are the responsibility of the European Food Safety Authority...

 E332. Medicinally, it may be used to control kidney stone
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...

s derived from either uric acid
Uric acid
Uric acid is a heterocyclic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen with the formula C5H4N4O3. It forms ions and salts known as urates and acid urates such as ammonium acid urate. Uric acid is created when the body breaks down purine nucleotides. High blood concentrations of uric acid...

 or cystine
Cystine
Cystine is a dimeric amino acid formed by the oxidation of two cysteine residues that covalently link to make a disulfide bond. This organosulfur compound has the formula 2. It is a white solid, and melts at 247-249 °C...

.

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 the pain and frequency of urination
Urination
Urination, also known as micturition, voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and more rarely, emiction, is the ejection of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control...

 when these are caused by highly acidic urine. It is used for this purpose in dogs and cats, but is chiefly employed as a non-irritating diuretic
Diuretic
A diuretic provides a means of forced diuresis which elevates the rate of urination. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics increase the excretion of water from bodies, although each class does so in a distinct way.- Medical uses :...

.

Potassium citrate is an effective way to treat/manage gout
Gout
Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...

 and arrhythmia, if the patient is hypokalemic
Hypokalemia
Hypokalemia or hypokalaemia , also hypopotassemia or hypopotassaemia , refers to the condition in which the concentration of potassium in the blood is low...

.
In common with other substances that render the urine alkaline, it may be used to reduce the danger of crystalluria
Crystalluria
Crystalluria refers to crystals found in the urine when performing a urine test. Crystalluria is considered as one of the side effects of sulphonamides.-Clinical significance:It can be an indication of urolithiasis.It can be associated with cysteinuria....

 during sulfonamide therapy.

It is widely used to treat urinary calculi (kidney stones), and is often used by patients with cystinuria
Cystinuria
Cystinuria is an inherited autosomal recessive disease that is characterized by the formation of cystine stones in the kidneys, ureter, and bladder.-Signs and symptoms:Cystinuria is a cause of persistent kidney stones...

. A study of 500 patients with recurrent stones found that it reduced the frequency of stones from 2 per year to a half per year. It is also used in many soft drinks as a buffering agent
Buffering agent
A buffering agent is a weak acid or base used to maintain the acidity of a solution at a chosen value. The function of a buffering agent is to prevent a rapid change in pH when acids or bases are added to the solution. Buffering agents have variable properties—some are more soluble than others;...

.

It is also used as an alkanising agent in the treatment of mild urinary tract infections such as cystitis
Cystitis
Cystitis is a term that refers to urinary bladder inflammation that results from any one of a number of distinct syndromes. It is most commonly caused by a bacterial infection in which case it is referred to as a urinary tract infection.-Signs and symptoms:...


Administration

Potassium citrate is usually administered by mouth in dilute aqueous solution. This is because of its somewhat caustic effect on the stomach lining, and the potential for other mild health hazards.

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). Pure potassium citrate contains 38.28% potassium.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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