Potassium benefits the body and its food sources

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Potassium benefits the body and its food sources


Potassium performs many functions in the body. Learn about the benefits of potassium for the body and its most prominent sources in this article.

Potassium benefits the body and its food sources

Potassium is one of the most important minerals essential for health, as it performs many functions, most notably regulating body fluid balance, as well as regulating the heartbeat, strengthening muscles and nerves, and is necessary for protein synthesis and carbohydrate metabolism.

Let's learn in this article about the benefits of potassium for the body:

Potassium benefits the body

Let's get acquainted in detail with the most important benefits of potassium for the body:

1. Maintain blood pressure and heart health

Eating foods rich in potassium helps maintain normal blood pressure levels. This is because it helps reduce sodium levels in the body, which is essential for lowering blood pressure.

Thus, increasing potassium intake with decreased sodium can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease that may result from high blood pressure. 

2. Decreased chances of having a stroke

High blood pressure, one of the main risk factors for stroke, which means link potassium levels in the body decrease stroke incidence.

As the body's need for potassium ensures maintaining blood pressure and preventing it from rising. 

3. Maintain healthy bones and muscles

Bone problems are associated with low levels of calcium in the body, and potassium plays a key role in reducing the amount of calcium lost by the body and thus may help prevent osteoporosis

Foods rich in potassium also contribute to maintaining an alkaline environment in the body that increases bone density, in contrast to the role of an acidic environment, which causes nitrogen excretion, loss of bone mineral density, and muscle weakness.

4. Prevention of kidney stones

Calcium is a common mineral in kidney stones, which are clumps of material that form in the urine.

Potassium can help prevent kidney stones; Because potassium citrate helps reduce calcium levels in the urine and prevent the formation of kidney stones. 

5. Reduce water retention in the body

One of the benefits of potassium to the body is that it is used in the treatment of water retention in the bodyThis is because it helps to increase urine production and reduce sodium levels in the body.

When the level of sodium in the body rises, it will develop edema or water retention, which can lead to swelling in some parts of the body. 

The body's need for potassium

After knowing the benefits of potassium in the body, it became necessary to ensure that the body needs potassium daily to maintain health, especially for elderly people, as they are most susceptible to diseases that can result from low potassium in the body, such as high blood pressure, strokes, Heart disease, kidney stones, and osteoporosis.

To maintain good potassium levels in the body, it is recommended to consume an amount of potassium ranging from 3500 to 4700 mg of it.

Potassium-rich food sources

The following are the most prominent food sources of potassium and the percentage of potassium they contain:

the food

Potassium content (mg/100g)

gourd 139 mg/100 g.
apple107 mg/100 g.
raw artichoke286 mg/100 g.
avocado485 mg/100 g.
the banana358 mg/100 g.
beet325 mg/100 g.
broccoli316 mg/100 g.
baked beans 231 ammunition / 100 grief.
cantaloupe157 mg/100 g.
Carrots320 mg/100 g.
cherry 222 mg/100 g.
the milk167 mg/100 g.
Pepper 429 mg/100 g.
potato105 mg/100 g.
spinach559 mg/100 g.
tomatoes306 mg/100 g.
Yogurt150 mg/100 g.

It is cautioned to take potassium supplements without consulting a doctor and after making sure of its deficiency in the body, as increasing its levels may lead to an imbalance in the proportion of salts.

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