Coffe and Potassium

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Calliope610
Calliope610 Posts: 3,771 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Coffee and potassium - who knew?? Since I have upped my workouts, I started tracking my potassium intake today. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that my morning coffee (12 oz) has 174g of potassium. Yay!

I got more potassium this morning in my 2 cups of coffee than I did in my post-walk banana!

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  • xinit0
    xinit0 Posts: 310 Member
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    Coffee and potassium - who knew?? Since I have upped my workouts, I started tracking my potassium intake today. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that my morning coffee (12 oz) has 174g of potassium. Yay!

    I got more potassium this morning in my 2 cups of coffee than I did in my post-walk banana!

    Man. I don't log black coffee... I think I need to start ;)
  • ncmedic201
    ncmedic201 Posts: 540 Member
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    I was excited to see the same thing. I've been tracking my potassium and trying to bring it up closer to *recommended*. I am excited that I have not had any coffee yesterday or today! I used to drink 15-20 cups a day and had gone down to 2 a day and am now coffee free. For me, it was causing premature ventricular contractions (kinda a bad irregular heart beat)
  • optimisticShark
    optimisticShark Posts: 136 Member
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    Is coffee bad for health? I used to drink 3-4 cups a day. Now I drink it rarely like 2-3 cups a week.
  • xinit0
    xinit0 Posts: 310 Member
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    I used to drink 15-20 cups a day and had gone down to 2 a day and am now coffee free. For me, it was causing premature ventricular contractions (kinda a bad irregular heart beat)

    Decaf still has potassium, apparently.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Is coffee bad for health? I used to drink 3-4 cups a day. Now I drink it rarely like 2-3 cups a week.

    There are actually a lot of health benefits to drinking coffee. Too much can be a problem though. For most people, a couple cups of coffee per day is just fine.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    Is coffee bad for health? I used to drink 3-4 cups a day. Now I drink it rarely like 2-3 cups a week.
    Who knows? Some weeks it's bad for you and then a few weeks later they say it's healthful. The last thing I read had it being good for you:

    http://authoritynutrition.com/why-is-coffee-good-for-you/

    Personally, I drink coffee a few times a week now instead of everyday just because I don't want the withdrawals.
  • themedalist
    themedalist Posts: 3,212 Member
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    Given how important potassium is to countering sodium and sodium's link to high blood pressure, I simply do not understand why potassium isn't required to be listed on nutrition labels. It isn't, and as a result, the MFP food database is full of entries that erroneously list the food as having no potassium when it can be a very good potassium source. You just have to know the food has potassium in it.

    This is a great resource for potassium rich foods:

    http://potassiumrichfoods.com/potassium-rich-foods-list/

    But as to the OP's point, coffee is also one of my favorite sources of potassium!
  • ncmedic201
    ncmedic201 Posts: 540 Member
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    Is coffee bad for health? I used to drink 3-4 cups a day. Now I drink it rarely like 2-3 cups a week.

    Not in moderation....I just drank way too much! I did fine at 2 cups a day but I use flavored creamer and didn't want to keep wasting calories on it every day. My goal was to replace those calories with a more potassium rich food. I've really been tinkering with my daily intake trying to bring my potassium up.
  • ncmedic201
    ncmedic201 Posts: 540 Member
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    Given how important potassium is to countering sodium and sodium's link to high blood pressure, I simply do not understand why potassium isn't required to be listed on nutrition labels. It isn't, and as a result, the MFP food database is full of entries that erroneously list the food as having no potassium when it can be a very good potassium source. You just have to know the food has potassium in it.

    This is a great resource for potassium rich foods:

    http://potassiumrichfoods.com/potassium-rich-foods-list/

    But as to the OP's point, coffee is also one of my favorite sources of potassium!

    Yeah, I really don't understand how it's not required to be listed. It's very important to heart function. Thanks for the link!
  • Brie4me
    Brie4me Posts: 238
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    Given how important potassium is to countering sodium and sodium's link to high blood pressure, I simply do not understand why potassium isn't required to be listed on nutrition labels. It isn't, and as a result, the MFP food database is full of entries that erroneously list the food as having no potassium when it can be a very good potassium source. You just have to know the food has potassium in it.

    This is a great resource for potassium rich foods:

    http://potassiumrichfoods.com/potassium-rich-foods-list/

    But as to the OP's point, coffee is also one of my favorite sources of potassium!


    I was going to post along those lines, too. Also, it is not recommended to take a potassium supplement unless you're under doctor supervision. It can be dangerous if you take too much.
  • ncmedic201
    ncmedic201 Posts: 540 Member
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    I was going to post along those lines, too. Also, it is not recommended to take a potassium supplement unless you're under doctor supervision. It can be dangerous if you take too much.

    OTC potassium supplements are so low (around 99 mg and the recommended daily allowance is 4700 mg) it really wouldn't affect anyone unless they take certain meds or have kidney problems.
  • xinit0
    xinit0 Posts: 310 Member
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    This is a great resource for potassium rich foods:

    http://potassiumrichfoods.com/potassium-rich-foods-list/

    Oddly, that link didn't include parsley, so I went to Google to look it up and Google showed me a big nutrition label. I'd heard about this, but this was the first time I'd seen it come up.

    https://www.google.ca/search?q=parsley+potassium&oq=parsley+potassium

    A cup of tabbouleh does wonders for potassium, despite what the MFP database seems to think.
  • 4Healthyliving
    4Healthyliving Posts: 16 Member
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    Daily Required amount of potassium is 4700 mg. Lima beans contains 1000mg/ Potato (baked) 900mg/ Beets 700mg/ Citrus fruits 400mg / fish 400mg/ the cabbage family.....yes coffee does contain potassium BUT not as much as vegetable contain.
    both coffee and tea contain potassium. KEEP IN MIND TO USE ORGANIC WHEN EVER POSSIBLE..AgingWithoutDisease.com
  • jeskimohum
    jeskimohum Posts: 1
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    Why is there no potassium in Maxwell House coffee? :(
  • Christine205100
    Christine205100 Posts: 1
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    For those looking to up their potassium, please have your creatinine levels checked by your physician. Creatinine levels can be a predictor of kidney malfunction which is sometimes undetectable until too late. My brother was into high dosage potassium not knowing he had kidney disease, After diagnosis, he was put on dialysis and a potassium-free diet until I was able to donate a kidney to him. His new kidney is working well but now we are both on a low/no potassium diet because one kidney cannot handle the normal to high potassium in a typical diet.
  • GCarbo51
    GCarbo51 Posts: 1
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    Wow, jeskimohum, you're right. Maxwell House Coffee has zero nutrients listed, so maybe it is really a processed food in the worst sense of the word. The SelfNutrition Database has coffee having several of the B vitamins and a few minerals, calcium, manganese and magnesium, as well as phosphorus. Might be time to get some real coffee. :)

    The diuretic effect of coffee is a classic YMMV scenario with some people being affected more than others, specially when they first start drinking coffee. Some few people might not get used to coffee though and it might be more of a problem as other minerals will also go out in the urine, magnesium for example. For most people it's a non-issue.
  • edufur
    edufur Posts: 1 Member
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    Calliope610 wrote: »
    Coffee and potassium - who knew?? Since I have upped my workouts, I started tracking my potassium intake today. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that my morning coffee (12 oz) has 174g of potassium. Yay!

    I got more potassium this morning in my 2 cups of coffee than I did in my post-walk banana!

    I know I am late to this conversation... as I just stumbled upon similar information, but I am now also reading that since coffee is a diuretic, it may actually be depleting you of more than it is providing you.

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