Potassium and Iron

CommanderRogers

What foods have potassium and which have iron? My food log tells me I'm only getting half what I should.

abatonfan

For potassium, it's not yet a required listed micronutrient on food labels, so you may be getting adequate potassium while your MFP may say that it's low. Have you taken a quick look at the USDA entries for certain foods (especially for the more basic foods like vegetables, fruits, some meats) or used a website like MyPlate's Supertracker (uses all USDA foods) to get a quick guesstimate of your actual potassium intake? Some potassium-rich foods include bananas, zucchini, potatoes, broccoli, and beets.

Some iron-rich foods include fortified cereal, certain chocolates (some super dark chocolates have over 50% of the iron RDA per serving), dried fruit, leafy greens, certain meats (beef, chicken, pork, seafood), and beans. One thing to consider is that consuming iron with calcium causes the iron's absorption to decrease within the stomach/small intestine (so consuming a high-iron cereal with milk might not be the best way to get iron), while consuming iron with vitamin C (like in citrus fruits) increases the iron's absorption.

MelaniaTrump

@abatonfan Fascinating stuff about iron and calcium. Love it when someone teaches you something.
I knew that Tums/antacids decreased iron absorption. I just never put it all together. And I think tannins (in tea) can also reduce iron.

rankinsect

Also if you have an iron deficiency, heme iron (found mainly in red meat / dark meat or foods containing blood) is much more readily absorbed and used than non-heme iron (found in basically every source that's not hemoglobin or myoglobin). Essentially, this is iron pre-packaged in the heme molecule that is needed to connect iron atoms to proteins.

Basically, you need more iron if you're getting it from non-heme sources.

Peshak27

Thank you for the clarification on potassium. I started tracking and was a bit alarmed by how little I seemed to be getting.
For iron, turmeric is a great and easy source.

willburpeeforcookie

I always fall short with these two as well.

Zipp237

I'm always short on potassium, too, and I do track it. I just cannot eat as much as we are supposed to eat. The potassium in my blood is always fine, so I added foods I like with potassium in them and then quit worrying. For what it's worth, most of us are under our recommended amount.

Qskim

Peshak27 wrote: »

Thank you for the clarification on potassium. I started tracking and was a bit alarmed by how little I seemed to be getting.
For iron, turmeric is a great and easy source.

phtgrapher wrote: »

What foods have potassium and which have iron? My food log tells me I'm only getting half what I should.

Some foods just don't have the iron value recorded in the database. Even meats...user entered. Check that if you aren't already.

nutmegoreo

Zipp237 wrote: »

I'm always short on potassium, too, and I do track it. I just cannot eat as much as we are supposed to eat. The potassium in my blood is always fine, so I added foods I like with potassium in them and then quit worrying. For what it's worth, most of us are under our recommended amount.

There's no way to be certain of this because it isn't required on labels. Therefore the database entries are often missing the potassium values.