To Overdose you’ll Have to Work Really Hard

As mentioned, most Americans are potassium deficient, and two whole bananas a day won’t give you the full RDA. You would need to eat 7 or 8 bananas to get enough potassium per day from this one source. However, too much potassium is just as dangerous as too little: it can destroy the heart muscle, for example. But for a healthy person to reach this danger zone, they would have to eat 400 bananas in one day! We believe that the capacity of the stomach would prevent this from happening long before a person consumes too much potassium by eating bananas.

So for anyone in good health, eating two bananas a day is a great idea. People who take beta blockers for heart disease should be careful, as beta blockers increase potassium levels. Also, bananas have a “medium” glycemic index, so diabetics should not eat two bananas a day. Otherwise, eat. Research indicates that high potassium intake reduces the risk of death from physical disease by 20%. It’s a good health cushion!