Dandelion leaf, the potassium diuretic

Herbalist Sajah Popham's “universal diuretic” that brings its own potassium — checked against the one study in people, the food tables, the drugs it is compared with and the EU's herbal monograph.

15 October 2026 9 min read ▶ 8-min video 11 sources · 4 peer-reviewed

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Timeline of three doses of dandelion leaf extract in one day, with what changed in the five hours after each

In brief

In Sajah Popham's spring tonics lesson, dandelion leaf is “the universal diuretic”: bitter, cooling, drying, and “potassium-sparing” because it brings in the potassium that a water tablet washes out. The one study in people, 17 volunteers over a single day with no placebo group, found a real but small diuretic effect. The leaf is rich in potassium — but that is a reason for care, not a swap for medicine: the EU warns against it with kidney failure, diabetes or heart failure. Its use for blood pressure rests on rats; for gout, bile, anaemia and bones, on tradition.

17 volunteers in the only study of dandelion leaf as a diuretic in people — one day, no placebo group

397 mg of potassium in 100 g of raw dandelion greens; 218 mg in a cup, 5% of a day's needs

4.51% of the dried leaf is potassium — about 45 mg in every gram

7–56% of people on thiazide water tablets have low potassium — managed in several ways, not always with “potassium pills”

Learn from the source

Sajah Popham

Herbalist and host of The Plant Path; founder of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism.

He teaches herbal medicine through the energetics of plants and people, and herbal astrology alongside it.

evolutionaryherbalism.com ↗ Every summary of Sajah Popham’s work →

The one study in people

The universal diuretic

The lesson's dandelion leaf is a gentle, “non-irritating” diuretic, more targeted than burdock — a kidney and urinary-tract alterative, used above all to drain dampness and swelling. The earliest spring greens are the least bitter; the bigger and older the leaves, the more bitter they get.

Timeline of three 8 mL doses five hours apart: more frequent urination after the first, more urine for the fluid drunk after the second, no change after the third — The one study in people. Three doses of dandelion leaf in a day, and what happened in the five hours after each.

For members

Read the whole summary

4 sections, 4 diagrams, the video with its chapters, 10 claims checked against the research, 11 sources with the names of the people who did the work and links to it — and downloads in PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

🔒 Potassium in, potassium out
🔒 Blood pressure, bile and the bones
🔒 Dandelion in the sky

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Dandelion leaf, the potassium diuretic

In brief

Learn from the source

The universal diuretic

Read the whole summary

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