Potassium and Sodium

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Looking at my nutrition breakdown, I notice that often I am getting too much sodium (like between 300mg and 2300mg extra on any given day) and way too little potassium (like under 500mg most days). I'm not 100% sure how accurate the potassium is since I know that not all foods in the database are accurate particularly when it comes to micronutrients. But still. Low potassium, high sodium seems like a bad mix. Am I right to be concerned? Any thoughts on how to at the very least get more potassium without increasing calories too much?

jgnatca

Buy NoSalt. When you salt your home cooking, cut your salt in half and replace half with NoSalt.

But unless you are showing bloodwork where your electrolytes are unbalanced, I'm guessing is your body is coping quite well with your salt/potassium balance.

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jgnatca wrote: »

Buy NoSalt. When you salt your home cooking, cut your salt in half and replace half with NoSalt.

But unless you are showing bloodwork where your electrolytes are unbalanced, I'm guessing is your body is coping quite well with your salt/potassium balance.

I guess I look at it cause at one point my potassium was slightly low (low enough to need supplementing, but just one mega dose took care of it). I did have some other medical issues going on at the time. I think you are probably right though. I haven't really noticed any issues, though I've only been paying attention to my intake since I started logging again two weeks ago.

rankinsect

Really, unless you have hypertension or kidney problems, neither sodium nor potassium should really be of concern. You're probably getting more potassium than that - since every food contains it and US food labels don't have to show it.

The reason for the high potassium / low sodium recommendations by some groups is not because of concerns about deficiency or surplus, but because in people with hypertension, increasing the ratio of potassium to sodium will reduce blood volume by drawing fluid out of the bloodstream, and lead to a lower blood pressure. If you have a normal blood pressure, though, the effect is tiny if it even exists at all.

If you have kidney problems or are taking any medications that may impact your kidneys, you should definitely follow your doctor's advice on sodium and potassium. Your kidneys are generally excellent at recycling potassium which is why actual deficiency is rare.

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rankinsect wrote: »

Really, unless you have hypertension or kidney problems, neither sodium nor potassium should really be of concern. You're probably getting more potassium than that - since every food contains it and US food labels don't have to show it.

The reason for the high potassium / low sodium recommendations by some groups is not because of concerns about deficiency or surplus, but because in people with hypertension, increasing the ratio of potassium to sodium will reduce blood volume by drawing fluid out of the bloodstream, and lead to a lower blood pressure. If you have a normal blood pressure, though, the effect is tiny if it even exists at all.

If you have kidney problems or are taking any medications that may impact your kidneys, you should definitely follow your doctor's advice on sodium and potassium. Your kidneys are generally excellent at recycling potassium which is why actual deficiency is rare.

That is great info. Thank you!

Yi5hedr3

Take 1 ea 99mg Potassium capsule 3 times daily with meals. All good!

MelaniaTrump

Someone here told me 1:1 ratio. As long as you are not going over this, you're ok. This made my life a heap of a lot easier. Ex: only 2,000 mg of potassium, do not consumer more than 2,000 of sodium that day.
I don't care if it was right or not. I can live my life with that.