Potassium???

http://hkpp.org/patients/potassium-health

The long answer

The relevant answer: MFP does a BAD job tracking potassium. The most likely explanation is that you're tracking a lot of foods that show up as having zero potassium. That's usually an error. Even a cup of black coffee has like half as much potassium as is in a banana. Very little food actually has zero potassium.

MFP undercounts substantially unless you're very, very, very good at using the tool, navigating the database, and finding accurate entries.

I was wondering this as well! Good to have some answers

davefh0_0 wrote: »

mfp says I should have 3500mg of potassium a day but I'm never close to that. Is that bad? What does potassium do for the body?

I wasn't sure whether to go ahead and post a reply, given the useful link that bluworld had posted... and I didn't know whether my conveying some info regarding potassium might seem like 'too much'... but I did want to 'shine a spotlight' on its critical role in cardiac function, along with posting about my experience in seeing per-MFP potassium levels that didn't reflect the reality of my consumption... and so... I've (now) decided to go ahead and post what I wrote yesterday (but which I'd originally 'held off' on sending along)... and my apologies to anyone who might consider this post TL:DR -- go ahead and bypass... it's obviously anyone's prerogative to 'skip at will'...


Potassium is one of the unheralded 'superheroes' in the body, what with it seemingly not 'getting its due', despite its crucial roles in mediating electrical 'action potentials' of nerve and muscle cells -- and in particular, the muscle cells of the heart. Potassium's roles in the body -- which are often actioned 'in concert with' other ion 'dance partners' (Sodium, Calcium, and Magnesium, in particular)) -- result in signal conduction, muscle contraction, and various electrical gradient and ion channel -specific aspects of function that are absolutely vital to the human body.

Also (and perhaps not surprisingly, when viewed in the context of its role in cardiac function, as well as its role in maintaining proper intracellular and extracellular fluid balance (let alone, transmembrane transport)), Potassium plays a role in blood pressure -- and is subject to depletion in conjunction with heart medications, blood pressure medications, and diuretics (among other medications that affect the heart, blood pressure, and/or fluid balance).


All that being said... one of *the* most important roles of potassium in the body involves its absolutely criticial role in cardiac function, and the regulation of the heartbeat... among other specifics relevant to such, it's a key ion involved in what's known as cardiac repolarization.

Low potassium is referred to as "hypokalemia", and one of the 'signs'/'symptoms' of hypokalemia (and specifically, when levels are below a specific threshold) is cardiac arrhythmia and/or premature ventricular or atrial contractions (which result in out-of-rhythm premature 'beats').

And hypokalemia taken to an extreme can result in cardiac arrest, given that there isn't enough potassium to 'allow for' cardiac repolarization -- and without repolarization, the heart stops (which is why cardiac arrest has been a cause of death for some anorexic/bulimics -- whose purging and/or laxative abuse can result in such ongoing, sustained, and frequent fluid loss, that electrolyte imbalance can get to a point at which potassium depletion becomes the pivotal factor in death occurring).

In fact, the shocking-to-the-world-at-the-time death of the singer Karen Carpenter, at the age of 32, involved an official cause of death which stated, "heartbeat irregularities brought on by chemical imbalances associated with anorexia nervosa."


Cardiac arrest due to hypokalemia is also, at times, the first 'near fatal warning shot' 'fired by' the body, in the wake of anorexia's highly destructive toll.

The following is an abstract of a medical case report involving a 16-year-old who experienced cardiac arrest, as a result of hypokalemia, which was due to anorectic purging --
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BMJ Case Rep. 2013 Oct 3;2013. pii: bcr2013200876. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2013-200876.

Cardiac arrest: first presentation of anorexia nervosa.

Ewan SL1, Moynihan PC.


Abstract

A 16-year-old girl collapsed in cardiac arrest in a hospital car park. Investigations revealed a potassium level of 1.8. Following a 5-day intensive care unit admission she described behaviours consistent with restrictive-purging type anorexia nervosa, which had been concealed from her parents and health professionals. Long-term management has been difficult due to poor patient engagement. Further, recurrent episodes of hypokalaemia continue to feature. Here we explore the cardiac complications of anorexia nervosa and challenges with long-term management of this condition.
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With respect to the MFP database...

There are various entries in the database which were input by members, and were somehow implemented by said members without typing in the potassium values (I have to wonder whether some folks just type in what they consider to be 'all that matters' to *them*, and yet make the record available for others to use, but without any 'warning' that it's incomplete).

In addition to that type of 'errant information' -based 'contribution' to the misleading and false-to-an-unknown-degree values that we might find, when taking a peek at 'how we're doing', when it comes to whether we're getting enough potassium (relative to the goal-based level configured in the MFP tools), there is also the reality that some dairy products do not -- and for whatever reason -- include mention of their potassium content, and despite the fact that they DO contain potassium, and are, in fact, a great source of such.

Several leading yogurt manufacturers have products which do NOT give any hint on their packaging that the product contains potassium -- so even if the nutrient information regarding such products were grabbed from a third-party database which had been populated with nutrition facts from manufacturers' labels... OR had been scanned with a mobile device (and whether by MFP members or personnel)... utilization of such missing-Potassium-specs information, in conjunction with an MFP Food Diary, would result in our not having a true or reliable 'take' on what our Potassium consumption had been, in light of the 'potassium-specification potholes' that exist for various products.


What I did... after having taken an initial peek at my Potassium info, and thinking, "what the...?" (I couldn't help wondering, after seeing how much I supposedly sucked at Potassium consumption, why it was that I didn't seem to be experiencing any problems associated with the supposedly next-to-nil consumption thereof -- let alone, how had I accomplished such a seemingly difficult 'task', in somehow magically 'tip-toeing around' practically anything which contained Potassium (as though I were some sort of 'Potassium Absence Whisperer', or some such marvel whose inherent ability to sidestep 'all things Potassium' should perhaps be studied by medical science )).

I looked at various labels of things that I consumed, and after seeing the Potassium info on some labels, I then looked at the details of the associated shouldn't-have-trusted-them entries in the database -- and saw some problems...

...and so... I did two things... I not only ended up creating some new records, with an explicit mention in the 'name' of each record that the information was Complete and From the Label, but before creating new records for the yogurts I eat, and such that their missing-from-a-label Potassium content was reflected in the records (after I'd looked up what the values for given quantities of such should be), I found Potassium-corrective/added records in the database that had been created by others, and with 'names' that explicitly mentioned such -- and after double-checking the info, I found records I could use...


...and OH, how those per-the-tracking Potassium levels 'suddenly skyrocketed'...



Lastly... as with so many nutrients, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, organs, biochemical and bioelectrical processes, etc. -- I sometimes wish there were a special "Let's Celebrate Potassium" -like Day, and for so many of the 'heroes' of vital-to-the-human-body-functioning pricelessness, so that we could all be reminded of what various aspects of the body 'do for us' (the brain might have to have its own 'Week' )...

I've just gone and checked some food labels in my pantry. The majority do not list potassium in the nutritional profile. Now, that could be because the food contains no potassium or the manufacture just omitted it...

Phew thanks for the link

I drink a lot of milk and tea. I have fruit, yogurt and cottage cheese everyday, and eat plenty of red meat!
Hopefully I'm all good in the potassium department

...thought I'd go ahead and post this here...


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J Food Sci. 2008 Jun;73(5):H80-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2008.00782.x.

The effects of boiling and leaching on the content of potassium and other minerals in potatoes.

Bethke PC1, Jansky SH.


Abstract

The white potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a valuable source of potassium in the human diet. While most consumers benefit from high levels of potassium in potato tubers, individuals with compromised kidney function must minimize their potassium intake. This study was undertaken to determine the effects of leaching and boiling on levels of potassium and other minerals in potato tubers. Leaching alone did not significantly reduce levels of potassium or other minerals in tubers. Boiling tuber cubes and shredded tubers decreased potassium levels by 50% and 75%, respectively. Reductions in mineral amounts following boiling were observed for phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, manganese, and iron. There was no difference between the leaching and boiling treatment and the boiling treatment. In addition, mineral levels in tubers of 6 North American potato cultivars are reported. Significant differences in mineral levels were detected among cultivars, but they were too small to be nutritionally important. Individuals wishing to maximize the mineral nutrition benefits of consuming potatoes should boil them whole or bake, roast, or microwave them. Those who must reduce potassium uptake should boil small pieces before consuming them.
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I was a slightly concerned about my potassium levels as well until I read this thread, thanks everyone. Taking everything into consideration, I can breathe a little easier knowing that I'm more than likely getting my recommended levels, or at least close to it. MFP has my average about 1/2 of the recommended and I don't log the 1/2 pot of coffee (or more) that I drink every day and most foods don't have it in the database either.