Never enough potassium

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DragonRider83
DragonRider83 Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I was wondering if anyone else is having trouble reaching their potassium goal, or even getting anywhere near it? I don't think I've ever come even close to reaching even half of the recommended level. I know which foods contain high levels and I do eat a varied diet, so I get some, but obviously I don't want to eat a sweet potato or banana every day. Yesterday I ate several foods containing it, including a banana, natural yoghurt, some leafy veg and fish, and I was still only about a quarter of the way to the goal.

I'm not hugely worried - I know I'm eating healthily and am feeling fine, but could low levels cause any problems? The goal just seems unattainably high!

Replies

  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
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    Low levels is definitely a problem, but you are probably eating more potassium than you think. The little things add up, and the MFP database doesn't always have the potassium info. That being said, as somebody who has to watch their potassium due to taking blood pressure meds, COCONUT WATER! 1 cup of coconut water has about 600 mg. Also, you can increase your potassium by using Lite salt, which is half NaCl and half KCl.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    The actual potassium you need is almost impossible not to hit - it's very low, and virtually everything has some. That's why there's no actual RDA for it, and why labels don't need to track it.

    The much higher number you see quoted is the optimal level for people with salt-sensitive hypertension (high blood pressure that changes with sodium and potassium levels).If you're not in that group, and you don't have any other medical issue related to potassium, you shouldn't need to worry.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    I noticed that @Cave_Goose mentioned coffee as a source of potassium in this post http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10374215/what-is-one-thing-or-more-that-you-dont-bother-tracking-calories#latest

    @CorneliusPhoton I like your Portal Picture!
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    Many food labels don't include potassium. So you're probably getting much more than you realize.
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
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    The recommended "adequate" intake of 4,700 mg of potassium is based on levels that have been found to lower blood pressure, reduce salt sensitivity, and minimize the risk of kidney stones; it is thought that the relative deficiency of potassium in the modern diet compared to the huge amount of sodium may play a role in the pathology of some chronic diseases.
    • "On the basis of available data, an Adequate Intake (AI) for potassium is set at 4.7 g (120 mmol)/day for all adults. This level of dietary intake (i.e., from foods) should maintain lower blood pressure levels, reduce the adverse effects of sodium chloride intake on blood pressure, reduce the risk of recurrent kidney stones, and possibly decrease bone loss. Because of insufficient data from dose-response trials demonstrating these effects, an Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) could not be established, and thus a Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) could not be derived." - Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Potassium. Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate. Washington, D. C.: National Academies Press; 2005:186-268.

    @StealthHealth thanks, it's a bleached t-shirt I made with my daughter. :)

    I don't see coffee as having very high potassium. But it has some: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beverages/7400/2
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    ahamm002 wrote: »
    Many food labels don't include potassium. So you're probably getting much more than you realize.

    This. I'd guess that 99% of the foods entered on MFP don't give potassium values for that reason alone.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
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    Even tea has potassium, and its not on the databases here.
    The companies do not have to put this on the labels, so no one has any idea.

    My goal is a 1:1 ratio of potassium/ sodium
    If I consume 2,500 of sodium, I make sure I consume 2,500 potassium.
    You may have to google your foods and add them if it is truly important to you.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    CorneliusPhoton wrote: »
    The recommended "adequate" intake of 4,700 mg of potassium is based on levels that have been found to lower blood pressure, reduce salt sensitivity, and minimize the risk of kidney stones; it is thought that the relative deficiency of potassium in the modern diet compared to the huge amount of sodium may play a role in the pathology of some chronic diseases.
    • "On the basis of available data, an Adequate Intake (AI) for potassium is set at 4.7 g (120 mmol)/day for all adults. This level of dietary intake (i.e., from foods) should maintain lower blood pressure levels, reduce the adverse effects of sodium chloride intake on blood pressure, reduce the risk of recurrent kidney stones, and possibly decrease bone loss. Because of insufficient data from dose-response trials demonstrating these effects, an Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) could not be established, and thus a Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) could not be derived." - Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Potassium. Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate. Washington, D. C.: National Academies Press; 2005:186-268.

    @StealthHealth thanks, it's a bleached t-shirt I made with my daughter. :)

    I don't see coffee as having very high potassium. But it has some: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beverages/7400/2

    Both sodium and potassium only affect blood pressure in certain people. As a group, people who are normotensive experience no effect of either electrolyte, and even among hypertensives, only about one in three responds to sodium reduction or potassium increase.

    I'm normotensive, formerly borderline hypertensive, and I have definitely verified I experience no blood pressure changes even when I double my normal sodium intake. I had some high sodium pizza on Saturday and my blood pressure was 110/66 which is fairly normal for me these days.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    I hunt around in the database to find the most complete entries, which usually include potassium. It's in so many things, but not required on nutrition labels, so often not included in the info. So you're probably getting a lot more than you think.

    Sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, dairy, meats, eggs, coffee, tea, many fruits have great potassium.
  • nineteentwenty
    nineteentwenty Posts: 469 Member
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    Coconut water, the perfect after-workout drink.
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
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    rankinsect wrote: »
    Both sodium and potassium only affect blood pressure in certain people. As a group, people who are normotensive experience no effect of either electrolyte, and even among hypertensives, only about one in three responds to sodium reduction or potassium increase.

    OP's question was about how to achieve potassium goals. I was commenting on why there is a recommended adequate intake and providing a fairly reliable reference to support it. The reason why there is no RDA is not because the required amount is low, as your first post claims. Salt-sensitivity is prevalent, but that is not the only reason to make sure we get enough potassium: low levels are associated with kidney stones, bone loss, and non-salt-sensitive cardiovascular issues. Link to full paper: http://www.nap.edu/read/10925/chapter/7#213

    Can you provide a reference to support your comment that the potassium we need is "very low"?

    Regardless of nitpicking how much potassium we actually need, I don't think that for most people there are any adverse effects to trying to achieve the recommended intake, especially since it is an essential electrolyte that is rapidly lost daily with physical activity and fluid loss. Hopefully, we all here are participating in activities that make us sweat and drinking enough water to make us pee a lot. These things cause potassium loss. And sodium loss, but very few of us have any issues with eating enough sodium.



  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
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    If you can choke it down, Low Sodium V8 Juice = 1180mg Potassium per 11.5oz can :)
  • xpanda70
    xpanda70 Posts: 20 Member
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    I find it very hard to hit my potassium intake as well. I'm restricting to 1200 calories a day, so this doesn't help. I can usually get to about 3500 mg/day by eating: potato or sweet potato (with the skin), spinach (at least 2 cups), banana, cantaloupe and avocado or asparagus. I also have at least one big glass (8 oz) of tomato juice a day. This last bit has really helped. I make my own (I canned waaay too many tomatoes last summer so this worked out well, actually) and so I'm not adding any sodium at all.

    4700 mg a day is the RDA and it's really really hard to hit. Like, impossible, I think. You can eat all of the top ten potassium foods every single day and you'd still struggle.

    The lack of potassium notes in the MFP database isn't the point at all. I'd be happy, too, if I could find a supplement with more than 99mg of potassium in a single tablet. I can't eat 20 tablets a day!
  • ejbronte
    ejbronte Posts: 867 Member
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    I'm one of those people mentioned by RankInsect, who needs to pay attention to sodium, and is prone to high blood pressure. So I pay attention to potassium as well. I like to be not much higher than 1000 for sodium and perhaps 500 more than that for potassium (too much potassium is, like all other things, not good). So, if the potassium levels aren't listed in my food or ingredient of choice, I grrrrrr a little, scaring the cats, and then do research. Once I have a reasonable estimate of what should be, I go into the MFP database, enter "Potassium Pill" in the search bar, and enter the amount that would equal the number found in my research. You'd be surprised how quickly that fills my quota!

    Now, if I were really intelligent, I'd enter these tiny groups as recipes or something like that so I wouldn't have to do the same research over and over, since I have a very poor memory for this sort of thing (birthdays of people over the last five hundred years: yes! Practical data: no!).
  • Cave_Goose
    Cave_Goose Posts: 156 Member
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    CorneliusPhoton wrote: »

    I don't see coffee as having very high potassium. But it has some: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beverages/7400/2

    As I said on the other thread, no one drinks a "cup" (8floz) of coffee. Your average coffee cup actually measures 1.5-2 cups of liquid.

    I'm not suggesting you get all your potassium from coffee. I'm saying 3 mugs of java during your day gives you 522mg of potassium for 11 calories. A 156g banana is 558mg of potassium for 139 calories.

    Decaffe works too, if you don't want all the caffeine.

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