All about potassium

[Wonkmonk]

And honestly, I wouldn't want to completely replace a very varied diet with 674g of yam to get the same amount of potassium. And thereby getting 3.329 kcal from yam, I would be about 1000 kcal above my daily intake.

674g of yam is equal to just 795 calories only (100g has 118 calories, 674g has 118 x 6.74 calories).

The idea is not to replace your entire diet with yam, sweet potato or kale, but to add perhaps 100-200g of each every day. That's not so much. A mid-sized sweet potato has ~300g (at least those I am buying). 2-3 cups of Kale. Half a yam root. And that's it.

Together with an otherwise healthy diet, it should be no problem to get over 4-5g of potassium.

 

[pamojja]

Fair enough, then how about this: Yam root - 816mg of potassium per 100g raw produce (118 calories only):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yam_(vegetable)#Comparison_to_other_staple_foods

Sorry, for my mistake. Erroneously took that value from that table, and only now I realize they use kJ there.

Together with an otherwise healthy diet, it should be no problem to get over 4-5g of potassium.

That's even easily possible without starchy tubers, as found out in my case. But yes, added in now and then, it also adds to variety.

 

[Eastman]

Potassium and Health

Abstract
Potassium was identified as a shortfall nutrient by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 Advisory Committee. The committee concluded that there was a moderate body of evidence of the association between potassium intake and blood pressure reduction in adults, which in turn influences the risk of stroke and coronary heart disease. Evidence is also accumulating of the protective effect of adequate dietary potassium on age-related bone loss and reduction of kidney stones. These benefits depend on organic anions associated with potassium as occurs in foods such as fruits and vegetables, in contrast to similar blood pressure-lowering benefits of potassium chloride. Benefits to blood pressure and bone health may occur at levels below current recommendations for potassium intake, especially from diet, but dose-response trials are needed to confirm this. Nevertheless, intakes considerably above current levels are needed for optimal health, and studies evaluating small increases in fruit and vegetable intake on bone and heart outcomes for short periods have had disappointing results. In modern societies, Western diets have led to a decrease in potassium intake with reduced consumption of fruits and vegetables with a concomitant increase in sodium consumption through increased consumption of processed foods. Consumption of white vegetables is associated with decreased risk of stroke, possibly related to their high potassium content. Potatoes are the highest source of dietary potassium, but the addition of salt should be limited. Low potassium-to-sodium intake ratios are more strongly related to cardiovascular disease risk than either nutrient alone. This relationship deserves further attention for multiple target tissue endpoints.

 

[Idie]

Seems to be a vicious circle. The need for potassium increases with the deadlock quartet and lower potassium has an impact on blood pressure. Never had blood pressure problems until I started on the b12/folate etc. Very sneaky. You can increase your potassium to keep hypokemia at bay but it may still not stop high blood pressure with the ups and downs. Very frustrating.

 

[Wonkmonk]

For blood pressure, you would also have to look at sodium. Lower intake might lower BP as well. Potassium is just one side of the coin.