8 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Potassium

Potassium is an essential mineral for the body to achieve a good overall balance. It is very important for heart health and proper cell function. A diet abundant in vegetables is ideal for meet daily needs. We summarize in nine points everything you need to know to avoid its deficiency.

1. How much potassium do we need?

The daily needs are 1 g, although the ideal is to take 3 to 4 g a day.

4 g can be obtained in a single day including on the menu foods with potassium as common as the following, in these amounts:

75 g of lentils (607 mg) 200 g of potato (1,700 mg) 100 g of spinach (633 mg) 200 g of banana (764 mg) 200 g of melon (640 mg)

2. Why potassium is important for health

It is involved in vital functions such as nerve impulse transmission, heart and muscle contraction the hydration and the acid-base balance, which depends, among other things, on the amount of potassium, sodium, chlorine and bicarbonates. It is, therefore, a key element for health.

3. A lack of potassium is not common

If you follow a varied diet, rich in vegetables, and there are no underlying diseases, there is no need to worry about a possible potassium deficiency. Another thing is that there are kidney problems or metabolic diseases.

A potassium deficiency can also occur in case of malnutrition.

4. The more you exercise, the more potassium you need

With sport comes more losses, partly because Potassium is eliminated with sweat. But also because it is necessary for the synthesis of muscle and liver glycogen.

In any case, only extra doses of potassium will be needed depending on the type of sport in question and its intensity.

5. Beneficial in case of hypertension

According to studies, an “extra” intake of potassium increases sodium losses and therefore improves hypertension.

Therefore, one must reduce sodium intake and get enough potassium in the diet. An excess of sodium leads, in turn, to a greater loss of potassium in the urine (and calcium!).

6. Prevents diabetes

A low potassium meal causes less insulin to be secreted. Therefore, one way to prevent diabetes is to eat foods rich in potassium, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts.

7. Some drugs cause potassium loss

There is diuretics that promote potassium excretion in the urine and it is important to take this into account. This is one of the reasons, among others, why diuretics should not be taken indiscriminately. The indiscriminate and abundant intake of diuretic infusions is not innocuous either.

8. What are the symptoms of lack of potassium

Tiredness, some weakness and muscle fatigue are the main symptoms of mild deficiency. But it must be taken into account that these are very non-specific signs and that logically they can also appear for other reasons. In any case, it has to be a specialist who evaluates if there are deficiencies.