Potassium
Minerals & trace elements
The counterweight of sodium: it is the ratio between the two that counts, not salt alone.
It leaches into cooking water. A steamed potato keeps far more than a boiled one.
Effects and benefits
The counterweight of sodium. It contributes to the maintenance of normal blood pressure, to muscles and to nerves. Every cell pumps it inward non-stop, and that is what makes the heart beat.
Every cell brings potassium in and sends sodium out with a pump that runs continuously; this maintained imbalance lets nerves transmit and muscles, the heart included, contract. This pump uses a large share of the energy the body spends at rest.
It contributes to the maintenance of normal blood pressure, to the normal functioning of the nervous system and to normal muscle function (Regulation 432/2012).
EFSA sets the adequate intake at 3,500 mg a day for an adult, 4,000 during breastfeeding (EFSA, 2016). It is one of the rare cases where a disease requires eating less: with kidney failure, potassium is monitored with the doctor.
Sources: EU Regulation 432/2012 · EFSA, 2016
Where to find it (25)
- Apricot
- Avocado
- Bambara groundnut
- Banana
- Beet
- Beet greens
- Black chickpea
- Butternut squash
- Chickpeas
- Coconut
- Date
- Fig
- Flageolet / borlotti bean
- Green / brown lentil
- Lablab bean
- Lima bean
- Melon
- Potato
- Pumpkin / red kuri squash
- Spinach
- Sweet potato
- Swiss chard
- Tomato
- Urad bean
- White bean