The daily potassium dose that a good diet should provide is 2000 milligrams a day for adults and for children between 10 and 18 years of age, in growth phase.
The lack of potassium can be caused by renal dysfunction, excessive sweating, high salt consumption, inadequate intake of food. Furthermore, the lack of potassium can be triggered by some medicines, laxatives, hormonal dosages.
Symptoms of lack of potassium
Among the first symptoms of lack of potassium in the body are found: general physical weakness, malfunction of the neuro-muscular system, bone fragility, hypertension, even sterility. If the potassium is missing then the reflexes diminish and it becomes increasingly difficult to concentrate, the muscles are without tone, the kidneys are functioning poorly, the heartbeat slows down more and more, the heart is struggling to pump blood. In short, these indicators are by no means to be overlooked.
If the potassium level is low in adolescents, this could also cause skin problems, such as acne, for example. In old age, it is the cause of dehydration.
How to compensate for the lack of potassium in the body
A valid help to make up for the lack of potassium certainly comes from food: it is sufficient to observe some small nutritional devices and the values, if there are no genetically related problems with the assimilation of potassium, will be normalized. Those who wish to increase the level of potassium in their blood will:
- Eat lots of fresh and seasonal fruits and vegetables (especially spinach, legumes, potatoes, apricots, bananas ...)
- Avoid high salt consumption
- Avoid eating industrial sweets, products containing food preservatives, foods treated with certain agricultural fertilizers that remove potassium from the foods themselves and impoverish them.
Curiosity : a baked potato with peel, alone provides 400 milligrams of potassium! If you eat 5 of them, you're in for the whole day!
