potassium is one of the most important minerals for the health of people. Specifically, the body needs this nutrient to perform practically all its functions . Including the functioning of organs as important as the kidneys or the heart.
In addition, potassium is a mineral of great importance for athletes, since it plays a fundamental role in muscle contraction and prevents ‘cramps’. On the other hand, it is also a key nutrient for the nervous transmission of messages.
Normally, potassium is a mineral associated with a specific food, such as bananas. However, luckily, there is a wide variety of foods that help to have adequate levels of this mineral.
Even so, the link between potassium and bananas is more than justified. For each 100 grams of food, the banana provides 358 mg of this mineral.
How much potassium do I need?
In this sense, in order for the organism to be able to adequately perform all its functions, it needs adequate potassium levels. That is, it is necessary to prevent the deficiency of this micronutrient.
By Therefore, the National Institute of Health of the United States establishes an interesting guide with the sufficient amount of potassium that we must have on a daily basis in the body, depending on determining factors such as age and sex:
| Stage in life | Recommended amount |
|---|---|
| Babies up to 6 months age | 400 mg |
| Babies 7 to 12 months | 860 mg | Children 1 to 3 years | 2, 000 mg |
| Children from 4 to 8 years old | 2,300 mg |
| Children from 9 to 13 years | 2,500 mg |
| Girls 9 to 13 years | 2,300 mg |
| Adolescents of 14 to 18 years (children) | 3,000 mg |
| Adolescents of 14 to 18 years (girls) | 2,300 mg |
| 3,400 mg | |
| 2,600 mg | |
| Pregnant adolescents | 2,600 mg |
| Pregnant women | 2,900 mg |
| Adolescents in period breastfeeding | 2,500 mg |
| Breastfeeding women | 2,800 mg |
Although bananas are a great source of potassium, take a single unit of this fruit nor It even comes close to the levels recommended on a daily basis by the National Institutes of Health of the United States.
Food sources
Fortunately, potassium is much more than bananas and is found in a wide variety of foods, in different amounts. In this context, people who follow a healthy and balanced diet should not find problems to have optimal levels of this mineral.
Thus, this mineral is mainly found in fruits, such as apricots , raisins, orange juices or bananas. Vegetables like squash, potatoes, broccoli, spinach, and tomato are also an excellent source; in addition to meat, fish, lentils, milk, yogurt, soy or nuts.
In addition, it must be taken into account that potassium levels can also be increased by consuming different vitamin supplements . Some of these forms of supplement are potassium chloride, potassium citrate, potassium phosphate, potassium aspartate, gluconate or bicarbonate.
In any case, most of these supplements only work as a supplement to food, since the dose of this mineral for each tablet is around 100 mg.