Potassium is an essential micromineral that your body needs. We need at least 100mg of potassium per day to ensure the proper function of key processes.

A high potassium intake can reduce the risk of overall mortality rate by 20%. It can even lower your chances of getting a stroke, preserves bone mineral density, lowers blood pressure, protects against loss of muscle mass, and reduces the formation of kidney stones.

Potassium helps the body in regulating fluid balance and controlling the electrical activity of the heart and the other muscles.

Dr. Alex Tam of Absolute Family Chiropractic in Vacaville can answer any questions you may have about the importance of potassium in your diet. Give him a call today!

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Recommended intake of Potassium in Vacaville

Adults needed an intake recommendation of 4,700mg of potassium per day. Unfortunately, most adults do not meet this recommendation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) requires an intake of 3,510mg per day and agrees that the majority of the world's population cannot meet this recommendation.

There are also potassium supplements that you can take. However, it is still best if you take your vitamins and minerals from food sources. The individual vitamin and mineral content of a food is not what is essential for a healthy living, but rather the combined efforts of these nutrients.

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Potassium benefits

Potassium has a lot of proven health benefits.

The electrolyte provided by potassium helps in counteracting the effects of sodium, which can also maintain consistent blood pressure. Potassium can also maintain the balance of acids and bases in the body. Bases are alkalis that have not yet been dissolved in water.

Blood pressure and cardiovascular health:
Potassium deficiency has been linked with cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. Lowering your sodium intake can help lower your blood pressure, but you need to also ensure a good intake of potassium as well.

Increasing your potassium intake while reducing sodium is the best way to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.

A study shows that people who consume 4,069mg of potassium per day have lowered their risk of death from ischemic heart disease by 49% compared to those who only consume 1,000mg per day.

Bone and muscle maintenance:
Potassium-rich foods ensures the alkaline environment in the body is well-maintained, unlike in acidosis. Metabolic acidosis is triggered when you consume acidifying foods such as meat, dairy products, and processed cereal grains. The Western diet can easily trigger acidosis in the body.

Acidosis can cause muscle wasting, nitrogen excretion, and loss in bone mineral density. A potassium-rich diet can help preserve muscle mass in the elderly, as well as during conditions that causes muscle wasting like diabetic ketosis. Fortunately, increasing your potassium intake can prevent this condition from happening.

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Potassium-rich foods

Whole, unprocessed foods are rich in potassium.

You can get the best sources of potassium from foods like avocadoes, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and leafy greens. Processing can reduce the dietary potassium content of a food. If you are taking a diet high in processed foods, then you are likely to get low levels of potassium.

A lot of processed foods are high in sodium. When you have high levels of sodium in your body, you can cancel it out by increasing your potassium intake, which controls your blood pressure in the process.

Check out how one cup of these food sources can provide you with potassium:

• Sliced banana: 537mg
• Sliced avocado: 708mg
• Baked sweet potato: 950mg
• Canned white beans: 1,189mg
• Raw cantaloupe melon: 417mg
• Red, ripe, raw tomatoes: 427mg
• Cooked, boiled, or drained beet greens (unsalted): 1,309mg
• Cooked, boiled, or drained soybeans (unsalted): 970mg
• Cooked, boiled, or drained lima beans (unsalted): 969mg
• Cooked, boiled, or drained mushrooms (unsalted): 555mg

To reduce the harmful effects of a high-sodium diet, make sure to eat high-potassium fruits or vegetables in every meal.