The Essential Role of Potassium as a Nutrient

Potassium is a natural mineral that makes up less than 1% of our body weight. Potassium is the most abundant positively charged ion within cells and performs a wide variety of vital functions, including nerve conductivity, enzyme activity, and muscle control. More importantly, it is essential for maintaining optimal health, normalizing blood pressure levels, and aiding cell growth.

Despite its great importance, the average American diet is often high in sodium and low in potassium, which has created a major national problem of “potassium deficiency.” And this reality is common in many countries.

Let’s see in this article what is the essential role of potassium as a nutrient for our body and its benefits, what are the main sources of potassium that we should consider in our diet, and what are the symptoms that can alert us to a potassium deficiency in our Body.

What are the Health Benefits of Potassium?

Potassium is one of the main electrolytes found in our bodies. It works together with sodium to help regulate fluid balance throughout our bodies. Potassium is required by the body for various functions and plays an important role in helping our nerves, muscles, and organs function properly.

Potassium also helps our kidneys filter waste products from the blood by producing urine rich in potassium salts (known as urea). This process allows us to remove excess salt from our body by excreting it through urine and perspiration or sweating.

The following are some key roles that potassium plays in our body:

• Helps maintain fluid balance within cells and throughout the body. Since potassium is a predominantly intracellular ion, it acts as a balancing factor for sodium, which is a predominantly extracellular ion, maintaining a balance of electrolytes inside and outside cells through the so-called sodium-potassium pump.
• Maintains normal blood pressure levels and heart function.
• It helps transmit nerve impulses throughout the body through nerve synapses.
• Helps maintain normal muscle function, participating in both voluntary and involuntary muscle contraction and relaxation. It also maintains the heart rate by regulating the heartbeat.
• Helps promote a healthy digestive system. By participating in the transmission of nerve signals from the brain to the muscles located in the digestive system, contractions are stimulated that help stir and propel food so that it can be digested.
• It also helps move nutrients into cells and waste products out of cells.
• Helps keep bones strong. Consuming a sufficient amount of potassium regularly improves your bone health by increasing bone mineral density.
• Helps prevent kidney stones by reducing the amount of calcium that leaks into the urine. This makes it easier for the kidneys to filter excess calcium from the bloodstream and excrete it.

Finally, a high cellular concentration of potassium is essential for the maintenance of various cellular functions such as growth, protein, and DNA synthesis, the functioning of many enzymatic systems, control of cell volume, and maintenance of acid-base balance.

What are the Best Sources of Potassium?

Unlike most minerals such as calcium, magnesium, or sodium, potassium is not stored in our bodies. It is found within cells and must be replaced daily through diet or supplements. The recommended dietary allowance for potassium intake (RDI) for adults 19 years and older is 4,700 milligrams (mg) per day.

Potassium is a mineral found in many fruits and vegetables. Many people don’t get enough potassium from their diet because they don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. Potassium can also be found in some seafood, meat, poultry, and dairy products.

The following are some of the best sources of potassium:

Potassium-rich vegetables include asparagus, spinach, and broccoli. A cup of cooked spinach contains about 860 mg of potassium, while a cup of cooked broccoli has about 640 mg. Other vegetables high in potassium are:

• Kale or Kale contains 982 mg per 7 ounces or 200 gr.
• The Sweet Potato contains 674 mg per 7 ounces or 200 gr. A medium sweet potato contains approximately 440 mg of potassium.
• The potato or white potato contains 800 mg per 7 ounces or 200 gr.
• Pumpkin, which contains 600 mg per 7 ounces or 200 gr.
• Tomatoes, which contain 474 mg per 7 ounces or 200 gr. A large tomato contains approximately 425 mg of potassium.
• The Avocado contains 960 mg per 7 ounces or 200 gr.
• Beet contains 650 mg per 7 ounces or 200 gr.

Potassium-rich fruits include bananas (one medium banana has 422 mg), orange juice (one cup contains 420 mg), and grapefruit juice (one cup contains 375 mg). Other fruits rich in potassium are melon (one cup contains about 350 mg), and kiwi (one kiwi contains about 215 mg).

A diet rich in potassium helps us keep our bodies healthy and helps offset some of the deleterious effects of sodium on blood pressure. You can also reach the daily dose of this mineral by taking potassium supplements.

If we consume potassium in excess, we rarely harm our body, since it is responsible for eliminating the amount not required. However, if there is an excess of potassium in our blood, a condition known as hyperkalemia or hyperkalemia, it is not generally the result of a high potassium intake, but rather, it is caused by kidney disorders or severe dehydration. In this case, you should consult your doctor immediately.

Common Signs and Symptoms related to Potassium Deficiency

The average American diet provides about 4,000 mg of potassium per day, which is about 15% below recommended intake levels. According to studies, it is estimated that approximately 98% of the adult population in the United States does not consume the recommended amount of potassium per day.

Insufficient potassium in the diet usually occurs because we are not consuming the right foods that contain enough potassium, or because their nutritional quality is poor. We must select foods of plant origin such as fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, instead of processed foods.

Potassium deficiency in the daily diet can have a wide variety of symptoms that we will review below. However, the most serious cases are not associated with the diet itself, but with a sudden loss of fluids in the body, as a result of excessive sweating, diarrhea, vomiting, blood loss, or the use of diuretics or other medications that stimulate urine production.

The following are the most common symptoms of a lack of potassium in our body:

Weakness or Fatigue

Potassium helps move nutrients into cells. A potassium deficiency can result in insufficient movement of these nutrients at the cellular level, leading to fatigue. On the other hand, potassium is required for muscle contraction, so a deficiency produces weaker muscle contractions, giving the feeling of fatigue.

Cramps, Spasms, and Muscle Pain

Potassium helps transmit nerve impulses between muscle cells and the brain, to contract and relax them. When there is insufficient potassium in our body, these nerve signals are not transmitted effectively, causing sudden, involuntary contractions known as cramps and spasms.

Additionally, potassium helps regulate the flow of blood into the muscles. When there is potassium deficiency, the blood vessels constrict, limiting the blood supply to the muscles and reducing the oxygen supply. This results in muscle stiffness and discomfort.

Heart Palpitations

Potassium plays a key role in the functioning of the electrical signals in the muscle layers of the heart, helping to regulate the heart rhythm. When we have low levels of potassium in our body, these signals can be altered, producing heart palpitations and arrhythmias.

Digestive Problems

During the digestion of food, the digestive muscles contract in a wave-like fashion to move food to the different processing stations in the digestive tract. When we are deficient in potassium, the digestive muscles’ contractions weaken and food movement slows down, causing stomach upset, bloating, and constipation.

Tingling Sensation

Due to the role of potassium in the transmission of electrical impulses in the nervous system, a deficiency of this mineral can weaken nerve signals, which can cause tingling and numbness, or loss of sensation.

Breathing Difficulties

A potassium deficiency can cause breathing difficulties because potassium helps transmit signals that stimulate the contraction and expansion of the lungs. If potassium levels in the body are low, the lungs may not expand and contract properly, leading to difficulty breathing.

Conclusions

We’re probably familiar with some of the symptoms mentioned in this article, but we may not have considered potassium deficiency as their most likely cause. The reality is that most people don’t get enough potassium from their diet, and because potassium is not stored in our bodies, we need to make sure we get enough every day.

To do this we must ensure that we obtain potassium in the correct form and the correct dose, according to our own needs. Organic foods ensure the best nutritional quality, and if necessary, we can resort to potassium supplements to complement the required dose.

Consuming potassium daily in sufficient amounts is essential to maintain good health and vitality.