MFP says low on potassium. How seriously to take this?

sofrances

MFP almost always puts me at way under RDA for potassium. How reliable is this? Is this something I should pay attention to? I don't think UK nutrition labels regularly list potassium.

RelCanonical

US nutrition labels don't regularly list it either, so it's not really reliable to use MFP to track potassium unless you create your own foods and ensure it has potassium filled in properly.

AnnPT77

I agree with Rel, the MFP database will underrepresent actual potassium intake, but if you want to reassure yourself, you might do what I did occasionally at first: Either do an internet search for "high potassium foods" and see if you're eating enough of them; or take a couple of typical days of your eating, and look up items in the USDA food database to see what your actual potassium levels look like.

sofrances

Thanks, I'll not panic for now.

It would be good in MFP could interoperate with other apps that have a more complete nutritional approach, like CRONometer, that can give you a better idea of your micronutrient intake. Still, I guess that might not be in the interests of either company, commercially.

Dolph452

Your body will tell you if you have a potassium deficiency, and none of the signs are particularly nice. As the other posts say, many foods in the MFP database don't have the full vitamin spectrum included. Tend to only find the "green tick" items will have, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.