When Potassium Needs Are Low
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Andrea Giancoli, MPH, RD
But we've received a request from a reader who has asked for some guidance on a low potassium diet, and we do strive to meet our readers' needs. Again, I'm usually a big fan of potassium, but for folks with kidney disease, high levels of this mineral in the blood can be dangerous. They are, therefore, instructed to avoid foods high in potassium to keep their levels under control.
In general processed foods are low in potassium, while fresh fruits and veggies are high. But we don't want to eliminate fruits and veggies completely on a low potassium diet. Luckily, there are lots of fruits and vegetables that can be eaten by those with kidney disease that are lower in this mineral.
Here are lists of F&Vs that are considered low potassium and medium potassium. Unless otherwise noted, servings should be 1/2 cup. (I wish I could put these lists in a table so they're nice and neat, but blogger.com doesn't have that feature. So please bear with me and scroll scroll scroll.)
If you've been prescribed a low potassium diet, limit low potassium F&Vs to 2-3 servings a day and medium potassium F&Vs to 1-2 servings a day.
Fruits Low in Potassium:
Apple juice
Apple sauce
Apricots, canned
Berries: blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries
Cranberry juice and sauce
Figs, canned
Fruit cocktail
Grapes, canned, raw, or juice
Lemon
Lime
Nectars: peach, pear, papaya, apricot
Mandarin oranges
Peaches, canned
Pears, canned
Pineapple, raw or canned
Plums, canned
Tangerine
Fruits Medium in Potassium:
Apple, raw, 1 large
Apricots, raw, 2 medium
Cherries, raw (15) or canned
Figs, raw, 2 medium
Grapefruit, ½ medium
Grapefruit juice
Peach, raw, 1 medium
Pear, raw, 1 medium
Pineapple juice
Plums, raw, 2 medium
Vegetables Low in Potassium:
Bamboo shoots
Bean sprouts
Beans, green or wax
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Cucumber
Eggplant
Hominy
Leek
Lettuce: romaine, iceberg, leaf, endive, watercress
Mushrooms
Onions
Peppers, sweet or hot
Radishes
Turnips
Water chestnuts
Rhubarb
Vegetables Medium in Potassium:
Asparagus
Beets
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Carrots
Corn, canned or 1 small ear
Greens: collard, mustard, kale, dandelion, beet, turnip
Mixed vegetables
Okra
Peas, green
Rubabaga
Summer squash: yellow crookneck, white scallop, zucchini
Have a fruit and veggie filled day, low potassium or not!
15 Comments:
At Wed Apr 25, 12:08:00 PM 2007,
Barbara Patterson said…
My blood work showed that my potassium is very high, now I am dizzy, do not feel good, and have gone to heart specialist, & lung doctor, heaart monitor for 24 hours, and a 30 monitor. No one can find out why my blood pressure is up & down, & pulse is from 45 to 58, I feel horrible, all my blood work was good, except the high potassium. Just had the druggist tell me that this can cause you to feel horrible as I do, no energy, and just ready to go to the emergency room and let them do what ever........ do you have any suggestions..........Druggist said there is no over the counter meds for high potassium........ thank you for any reply
At Fri Apr 27, 12:01:00 PM 2007,
greerl@comcast.net said…
Linda Greer, would like to find some information on low potassium. She was told she has this by her blood work and needs to know what to do about this. !! It is 3.3 right now. Any help out there???
At Tue May 01, 10:12:00 AM 2007,
Andrea Giancoli, MPH, RD said…
Linda,
Did your physician diagnose why you have low potassium? is it just lack of dietary potassium or some other condition?
Andrea
At Sun May 06, 12:51:00 PM 2007,
Anonymous said…
I HAVE CHROPNIC KIDNEY FAILURE AND DOING DAILYSIS 3 TIMES A WEEK ,3 MONTHS AGO I HAD BOTH KIDNEYS REMOVED,I TO HAVE HIGH POTASSIUM
ITS HARD TO KNOW WHAT TO EAT AND WHAT TO DRINK
At Tue May 08, 09:39:00 PM 2007,
Andrea Giancoli, MPH, RD said…
Barbara Patterson:
Barbara,
This is curious. I am not a physician so I cannot advise you medically unless your doctor requests a particular diet. Did he prescribe a low potassium diet?
With that being said, here are some questions you may want to discuss with your physician. Has your physician looked into your kidney function?
Have you lost a lot weight recently (muscle loss), or on a particular diet i.e. Atkins.
What is your sodium intake like?
If you are on any mediciations or laxatives that may be high in potassium or taking any dietary supplements/herbs of any kind discuss these with your physician as they could be contributing.
Talk to your physician about the possibility that your BP fluctuations may be due to fluid shifts because of the high potassium.
I hope to hear good news soon!
At Sun May 13, 07:52:00 PM 2007,
Andrea Giancoli, MPH, RD said…
to anonymous .. so sorry to hear about the loss of your kidneys. I am sure this must be a difficult time, and now is definitely the hardest. It will get easier with time.
For more info on low potassium and the dialysis diet visit the following page on the National Kidney and Urologic Disease Information Clearinghouse website:
http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/eatright/index.htm
Best of luck to you
-A
At Sat May 19, 07:28:00 PM 2007,
Anonymous said…
my husband has just recently been diagnosed with extremely high potassium levels. he has been on a adhd medication and seems to think it is that. has anyone had a similar experience?
At Mon May 21, 10:58:00 AM 2007,
ekenah said…
i have high potassim,sodium,alkaline phosphatase and ast. could these be the reason why i feel too tired and get sick all the time. i get colds/cough every 2-3 weeks...every month..help..
At Thu Sep 20, 02:42:00 PM 2007,
Anonymous said…
My Mom has high potassium levels5.3
Drs told her to eat a low potassium diet.She too is dizzy,tired,and feels really bad.
Hope you get to feeling better soon.
At Tue Dec 25, 11:08:00 PM 2007,
Nikki_in_ozz said…
my 25 yr old daughter has been suffering chronic vomiting for some months now. She is treated with maxalon then sent home. But, as the months have passed she has lost 55 kgs and her potassium level is on 2.1. She is being told the cause is an ulcer, being currently teated with potassium tablet @ 300 mgs x 2 daily. Currently she still cannot hold down any food and even water most days is a battle. Yesterday (xmas day) she was hospitalised again and not allowed out until her potassium level rose to 3 and was sent home to rest. Today the vomiting is back now the maxalon has obvioulsy worn off again. Even putting on a robe to get out of bed sometimes has her collapsing with no energy for obvious reasons. How can she improve or get the medical people to test her for other symptoms instead of just assuming it is an ulcer??? In the last 7 days 10 kgs alone in weight has been lost. Any suggestions??
Nikki
At Tue Feb 05, 10:45:00 PM 2008,
lamb888777 said…
My 26 year old son went to the ER today, he has been bleeding when he goes to the bathroom, and they did a blood test and found that he has low potasium. He also suffers from panic attacks, and chest pain.
We have ben to many doctors, clinics, you name it! But, no one has helped him so far! He is on disability and has Medicade, so his choice of doctors is limited!
Thank God I am getting my inheritance soon, then I will take him to a specialist and just pay for it.
Untill then, any suggestions???
Thanks! He has been like this for almost 3 years now, but is getting worse lately. My parents had colon cancer, could that cause low potasium?
Any answers would be appreciated.
At Sat Feb 16, 10:51:00 AM 2008,
Anonymous said…
I'm a 42 year old male. Very healthy except I wake up four or five times a night to go to the bathroom. I have tried dehydrating myself so I can sleep through the night but this hasn't worked. After a thorough physical exam, my doctor recommended my cutting out potassium to see what happens. He says the kidneys will try to get rid of any excess potassium. I'm now going to try to adjust to life without tomatoes, oranges and bananas for a few days to see if it works. This article is very helpful - I'm going to print it out and post it on my fridge.
At Thu Dec 18, 02:24:00 PM 2008,
Anonymous said…
My husband needs to be on a low potassium diet. I would like to know if very reduced balsamic vinegar from Modena is okay and in what quantity? The reduction was made from regular Italian balsamic vinegar boiled down to its half. Thank you very much.
Rosita
At Wed Mar 11, 07:04:00 PM 2009,
Anonymous said…
I have been having potassium problems for a long time and I can't get an answer on why or what it means. My last blood work done it read 5.5. Sometimes I have blood in my urine and the doctor is aware of that. What should I do about my potassium?
At Sat Jun 06, 11:40:00 AM 2009,
patricia fevens said…
I have high potassium levels and I'm on meds to help flush it out.It's difficult to know what to eat because I like all the healthy foods like wholegrains,fruits, all vegetables,nuts,pastas, baked beans,ect. all the food that suppose to keep us healthy!! I'm not sure how many milligrams of potassium I should get in a day so I don't know if I'm getting too much or too little.Another thing,it would be a whole easier for those of us who have high potassium if it was made mandatory to include the amount of potassium on the label like they do for sugar, sodium,fat,ect.It would make life a lot easier.
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