In what products is potassium? Dried apricots, wheat bran, carrots, yellow and other potassium-containing products

Do you always want to sleep, every movement is given with difficulty and accompanied by cramps? Or, on the contrary, the heart beats with interruptions, vanity does not stop, sweat pours hail? Perhaps these conditions are associated with a deficiency in the body of an element such as potassium. And before you grab the pills, let's see what this component means to us.

Potassium and sodium are rivals or friends?

Potassium performs several tasks in the body, and the most important of them is the water-salt balance of the cell, which ensures the health of all muscle tissues. 97% of all potassium is inside the cell. Outside, the blood is sodium in the NaCl compound - table salt (normal blood is salty taste).

This ratio: potassium inside, and sodium outside, - ensures normal cell functioning and transmission of nerve impulses K↔Na. This transfer leads to a normal muscle contraction, timely excitability of the nervous processes.

If potassium in the cell is not enough, its sodium antagonist penetrates inside with a large amount of water, the cell swells, and the nerve impulses (Na↔Na) are blocked. Hence, lethargy, swelling, muscle cramps. With an excess of potassium in the blood, it displaces sodium along with water, dehydration of the organism takes place. The blocking of nerve impulses (К↔К) leads to acute oxygen starvation of cells, especially the nervous ones, which can be the cause of death.

A heartfelt friend - potassium

The second task of potassium is to ensure the normal functioning of the heart in tandem with another heart element - magnesium. Potassium inside, and sodium outside the cage keep the heart muscle in a tone and prevent it from swelling, without fail transfer nerve impulses. If potassium is not enough and sodium is admitted into the cells of the cardiac muscle with water, then this edematous muscle of the heart works with tear, the rhythm of contractions is violated.

Very important is the friendship of potassium with magnesium - the main element of the heart. With insufficient amount of potassium in the blood, there will be little magnesium in it, which means that vasospasms will begin to spasms, food will be disturbed. The puffed heart, exhausted by spasms, lack of oxygen and nutrients, is a signal that it misses potassium.

So necessary, so indispensable

In addition to the first two important functions, this element is useful in many life processes.

• Protein and carbohydrate metabolism. In this area, potassium is given the role of the storehouse of glycogen stores - carbohydrate, the supplier of energy for muscles, and if it is in excess, it is fraught with diabetes mellitus.
• Excretion of liquid. This ability of potassium can lower blood pressure, clear the vessels of toxins, remove swelling and help the kidneys correctly remove urine from the body.
• Oxygen supply and mental brain activity are also achieved with the participation of this active alkali metal.

All in the world of poison is not a poison only a measure

Having learned about the important role of potassium in the body, you do not need to immediately use potassium-free products without measure: tea, dried apricots, wheat bran. The benefits and harm of potassium in the body depend on the balance of its content with other macro-elements and, first of all, with sodium.

A healthy person has always 160-250 grams of potassium in cells and blood, and the daily need for replenishment of its reserves is 1.5-5 g. It is not enough to know in which products potassium is contained in the greatest quantities. If we, for example, eat a potato rich in this element, copiously sprinkling it with salt, then potassium is not enriched.

For the correct balance of macronutrients, you need to use sodium in 2-4 times less, otherwise the body will have its excess with all the consequences. Overabundance of potassium is no less dangerous. Let's not forget that hydrocyanic acid - the oldest and strongest poison, known to mankind - is also called cyanide potassium.

Let's see what happens to us when the potassium-sodium balance in the body is disturbed.

Hypokalemia is a lack of potassium

Unlike sodium, potassium does not accumulate in the body, but is quickly excreted. And if you still have the habit of adding food and eating foods with preservatives, the lack of potassium will not take long.

Deficiency of potassium is easy to determine by feeling. Its main features: involuntary contraction of the muscles of the palms and trembling of the hands; Cardiac arrhythmia and insufficiency; Frequent cramps. All this is accompanied by a constant desire to sleep, irritability, increased pressure, poor coordination. There are changes in the psyche: depression, psychosis, impaired mental activity, memory.

Introspection will lead to the elucidation of one or more of the following reasons for this state:

1. Not enough potassium-containing products are used.
2. Excessive consumption of dishes rich in sodium.
3. Stresses remove potassium from the body very quickly.
4. Physical activity in combination with diets and hunger strikes.
5. Taking medications, diuretics, washing potassium.

To improve your condition, you need to determine in which foods potassium is in sufficient quantities, to make a balanced diet and gradually increase its content in the body.

Essentials of therapeutic nutrition

In order for the food to become curative, let's see how much potassium is contained in the products. The table gives the material for calculating the daily intake of this element: 1.5-5 grams per day, with sodium 0.5-1.3 grams. If sodium goes to food more, respectively, and the use of potassium-containing foods should be increased.

Some tips

Having become acquainted with the products in which potassium is available to the body, we will consider the peculiarities of using some of them. For example, wheat bran (benefit and harm from them are interrelated) require proper application. The hard husk of wheat, which was previously thrown on the livestock feed, proved to be more rich in macro- and microelements than flour from refined grains. For our problem it is valuable that in this product potassium and magnesium are presented together, which means that wheat bran is medicinal for the heart. But the stomach they are difficult to digest, can injure the gastrointestinal tract, if it has adhesions or ulcers. The intake of bran is also limited: no more than 10 days and no more than 30 grams per day.

The cardiac healer is also yellow carrots with a high content of potassium. Six carrots a week is enough to normalize a little stray pressure and avoid a stroke. Just do not brew it. And all products containing potassium, it is better to use, if possible, raw or cooked for a couple. When cooking, potassium is lost.

Potassium in dried apricots, which is included in the first three products according to the content of this element, will cope with cardiac arrhythmia, increased pressure, withdraw excess water and reduce swelling. It is enough to eat for this 5 fruits a day, of course, if there is no allergy to it.

What if there is a lot of potassium?

The excess of potassium in the body is perhaps more dangerous than the defect. When making a diet for weight loss, it is necessary to take into account in which products potassium is contained in large quantities. If you abuse these products when losing weight (for example, fresh white mushrooms and potatoes are often), you can provide metabolic disorders and hyperkalemia. Failures in the work of the heart, increased sweating and frequent urination amid general anxiety with paralysis of certain muscle groups should be very, very alert.

With this disease, self-medication is dangerous, food does not help. If you do not enter the right drugs in time, acute renal failure, increased acidity of the blood, a serious threat of diabetes and even death. Potassium does not joke with those who do not understand what role he plays in the body.

Sporting element

And yet for people with an active lifestyle, athletes, those who are engaged in physical work, potassium is a friend. What other element will quickly provide energy and strengthen stamina? And where can we wait for the support of the heart with rapid movement, if potassium and magnesium do not work consistently and uninterruptedly?

With physical exertion, a person with a later loses a lot of potassium. After training and competition, athletes use beverages saturated with this element to make up for their losses. The lack of potassium is a flaccid muscle, a weak heart, rapid breathing. All problems are solved by potassium entering the body with food.