World's Healthiest Foods rich in

potassium
FoodCalsDRI/DV

Beet Greens3937%

Lima Beans21627%

Swiss Chard3527%

Sweet Potato18027%

Potatoes16126%

Soybeans29825%

Spinach4124%

Avocado24021%

Pinto Beans24521%

Lentils23021%

For serving size for specific foods see the Nutrient Rating Chart.

Basic Description

Role in Health Support

Summary of Food Sources

Nutrient Rating Chart

Impact of Cooking, Storage and Processing

Risk of Dietary Deficiency

Other Circumstances that Might Contribute to

Relationship with Other

Nutrients
Risk of Dietary Toxicity
Disease Checklist
Public Health
Recommendations
References

Deficiency

Basic Description
Potassium is a mineral found in varying amounts in almost all foods. Vegetables,
especially green leafy varieties, are generally our richest sources of potassium.
We list three excellent sources of potassium, 16 as very good sources, and 39 as
good sources by our Nutrient Rating System. In other words, over half of our
WHFoods provide you with significant amounts of potassium! In fact, all of our
WHFoods contain at least some small but measurable amount of this mineral.
Along with sodium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium, potassium is an
electrolyte, meaning that it helps to conduct electrical charges in the body. Like
all the other electrolytes, our bodies have evolved elaborate systems to control
blood levels in a narrow range. This is good news since normal levels of
potassium are absolutely critical to lifeif potassium levels get too high or too
low, the heart and nervous system completely shut down. Luckily, most of us are
able to obtain enough potassium from foods to meet our most basic needs. But
since just meeting a minimal intake need is not a recipe for health, many people
in the United States often fail to obtain optimal amounts of this nutrient, and pay
a health cost for it.
This is because Americans fail to regularly eat fresh fruits and vegetables, while
eating heavily salted prepared foods. In fact, a recent survey suggests that only
about 5% of Americans meet minimal goals for eating fruits and vegetables. If
you do not regularly meet these goals, it will be difficult to ensure your potassium
intake will be optimal.
It is impossible to understand the role of potassium without addressing sodium as
well. Sodium and potassium exist in a partnership, and each important use of
potassium requires sodium to maintain balance. Importantly, as average diets in
the United States have become depleted in potassium, they have become much
more concentated in sodium.
For example, a heavily salted commercial tomato juicedespite containing a
potassium rich food like tomatooften contains a ratio of sodium to potassium of
more than 2:1. This ratio is not a desirable one! By comparison, our Mushroom,
Tomato, and Basil Frittata has a ratio of sodium to potassium of 1:3, a much more
health-promoting pattern. In fact, we believe one of the central benefits of the
World's Healthiest Foods approach is the way it rebalances sodium and
potassium in a manner that is more consistent with good heart and kidney health.

Role in Health Support

Maintaining Normal Blood Pressure
Diets high in potassium are associated with improved blood pressure control.
There are several mechanisms contributing to this beneficial effect, including
improved kidney function, reduction in blood clotting, and more efficient opening
of blood vessels. Because of these important benefits, therapeutic diets aimed at
improving blood pressure control often place primary focus on increasing
potassium from foods.
A good example of how foods rich in potassium can decrease elevated blood
pressure is seen in the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet
trials, where participants with high blood pressure who consumed an average of
8 to 10 total servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day experienced
significant drops in their blood pressure level. These servings focused on whole
food choices similar to those featured in our recipes and the diet avoided
processed and salt-choked choices like French fries. One key factor in these
blood pressure benefits was the healthy balance of potassium to other minerals
in these fresh fruits and vegetables.

Kidney Health
Perhaps the most important way to ensure strong kidney health is to keep your
blood pressure under good control. As discussed above, diets high in potassium
are well known to help with this.
In addition, diets rich in potassium have been associated with a reduction in
kidney stone risk. This is thought to be because the naturally occurring
potassium salts in plant foods help to neutralize acidity in the blood stream. This
prevents leeching of calcium from the bones to buffer the acid, which in turn
reduces urine calcium, preventing its deposition in the form of a stone. Please
note that while diets rich in potassium can be helpful in preventing certain kidneyrelated problems in a healthy people with good kidney function, persons already
known to have kidney problems and who are diagnosed with certain diseases of
the kidney may need to carefully regulate their intake of potassium, since their
kidneys might not otherwise be able to regulate the levels of potassium in their
bloodstream.

Summary of Food Sources

Probably the first food that comes to mind when thinking about potassium is the
banana. This is not wrongby our Rating System, bananas are a good source of
potassium. But there are 32 foods on our Rating Chart with more potassium per
calorie than the banana.
Speaking more generally, the most potassium-rich food sources of potassium are
fruits and vegetables. Some legumes, fish, and dairy products can also make
important contributions to our daily potassium intake; yet, because these foods
have more calories, they are not as highly rated by our Nutrient Richness
System. For example, Swiss chard and lima beans both contain nearly 1000
milligrams of potassium, but because a serving of lima beans contains six times
as many calories than a serving of chard, the nutrient richness of the chard is
higher.
Potassium content within the group of fruits and vegetables can vary widely, even
between two foods that seem superficially very similar. For example, a cup of
cooked Swiss chard contains more than three times as much potassium as the
same amount of kale or mustard greens.
Even with this relatively wide variation, you should feel confident that a largely
plant-based diet like the World's Healthiest Foods plan will meet your potassium
needs quite readily. In fact, our 7-day meal plan example averages nearly 50%
more than the Daily Value (DV) standard for potassium.
Many of our recipes, like this one for Broiled Chicken and this one for Poached
Eggs Over Spinach and Mushrooms contain more than half of our recommended
daily intake value for potassium. The first of these two recipes contains more
potassium than the average adult American woman eats in a single day.

Nutrient Rating Chart

Introduction to Nutrient Rating System Chart
In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of
nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This
system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular
nutrients. The following chart shows the World's Healthiest Foods that are either
an excellent, very good, or good source of potassium. Next to each food name,
you'll find the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient composition,
the calories contained in the serving, the amount of potassium contained in one
serving size of the food, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount
represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and

the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings,
we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read
more background information and details of our rating system.
World's Healthiest Foods ranked as quality sources of
potassium

Food

Serving
Size

World's
Amount DRI/DV Nutrient
Healthiest
Cals
(mg)
(%)
Density Foods Rating

Beet Greens

1 cup

38.9

1308.96

37

17.3

excellent

Swiss Chard

1 cup

35.0

960.75

27

14.1

excellent

Spinach

1 cup

41.4

838.80

24

10.4

excellent

Bok Choy

1 cup

20.4

630.70

18

15.9

excellent

Beets

1 cup

74.8

518.50

15

3.6

very good

Brussels Sprouts

1 cup

56.2

494.52

14

4.5

very good

Broccoli

1 cup

54.6

457.08

13

4.3

very good

Cantaloupe

1 cup

54.4

427.20

12

4.0

very good

Tomatoes

1 cup

32.4

426.60

12

6.8

very good

Asparagus

1 cup

39.6

403.20

12

5.2

very good

Cabbage

1 cup

43.5

393.00

11

4.6

very good

Carrots

1 cup

50.0

390.40

11

4.0

very good

Fennel

1 cup

27.0

360.18

10

6.9

very good

Summer Squash

1 cup

36.0

345.60

10

4.9

very good

Mushrooms, Crimini

1 cup

15.8

322.56

10.5

very good

Kale

1 cup

36.4

296.40

4.2

very good

Turnip Greens

1 cup

28.8

292.32

5.2

very good

Celery

1 cup

16.2

262.60

8.4

very good

Romaine Lettuce

2 cups

16.0

232.18

7.5

very good

Bell Peppers

1 cup

28.5

194.12

3.5

very good

Lima Beans

1 cup

216.2

955.04

27

2.3

good

Sweet Potato

1 cup

180.0

950.00

27

2.7

good

Potatoes

1 cup

160.9

925.55

26

3.0

good

Soybeans

1 cup

297.6

885.80

25

1.5

good

Pinto Beans

1 cup

244.5

745.56

21

1.6

good

Lentils

1 cup

229.7

730.62

21

1.6

good

Avocado

1 cup

240.0

727.50

21

1.6

good

Kidney Beans

1 cup

224.8

716.85

20

1.6

good

Dried Peas

1 cup

231.3

709.52

20

1.6

good

Tuna

4 oz

147.4

597.61

17

2.1

good

1 medium

118.7

502.32

14

2.2

good

Winter Squash

1 cup

75.8

494.05

14

3.3

good

Salmon

4 oz

157.6

492.15

14

1.6

good

Banana

1 medium

105.0

422.44

12

2.1

good

Green Peas

1 cup

115.7

373.30

11

1.7

good

Scallops

4 oz

125.9

356.07

10

1.5

good

Onions

1 cup

92.4

348.60

10

1.9

good

Cod

4 oz

96.4

327.72

1.7

good

1 medium

61.6

237.11

2.0

good

Mustard Greens

1 cup

36.4

226.80

3.2

good

Collard Greens

1 cup

62.7

222.30

1.8

good

Strawberries

1 cup

46.1

220.32

2.5

good

1 2 inches

42.1

215.28

2.6

good

Raspberries

1 cup

64.0

185.73

1.5

good

Green Beans

1 cup

43.8

182.50

2.1

good

0.50 medium

41.0

177.92

2.2

good

Cauliflower

1 cup

28.5

176.08

3.2

good

Watermelon

1 cup

45.6

170.24

1.9

good

0.50 cup

10.9

168.42

7.9

good

Cucumber

1 cup

15.6

152.88

5.0

good

Eggplant

1 cup

34.6

121.77

1.8

good

1 medium

37.0

116.00

1.6

good

2 tsp

15.6

111.10

3.7

good

Sea Vegetables

1 TBS

10.8

110.96

5.3

good

Chili Peppers

2 tsp

15.2

105.30

3.6

good

Papaya

Oranges

Kiwifruit

Grapefruit

Parsley

Figs
Turmeric

Plum

1 2-1/8 inches

30.4

103.62

1.8

good

1 whole

16.8

90.65

2.8

good

Apricot
World's Healthiest
Foods Rating

Rule

excellent

DRI/DV>=75% OR
Density>=7.6 AND DRI/DV>=10%

very good

DRI/DV>=50% OR
Density>=3.4 AND DRI/DV>=5%

good

DRI/DV>=25% OR
Density>=1.5 AND DRI/DV>=2.5%

Impact of Cooking, Storage and

Processing
Like other minerals, potassium is stable to storage. There are not significant
changes to the bioavailability of potassium over the storage life of any important
food. You do not need to take any special storage precautions to maintain the
potassium content of your foods.
Cooking vegetables can lead to loss of some or much of their potassium content.
If you follow our recipes carefully, however, enough potassium will be preserved
to provide you with health benefits. For example, lightly boiling spinach in the
way we describe in our spinach profile leads to a loss of about one-third of the
total potassium; yet, as you see from the chart below, cooked spinach still
features more than 800 milligrams of potassiumover 20% of the Daily Value
(DV).
The key to preserving potassium content of food during cooking is to minimize
duration of contact of that food with cooking water. For instance, boiling spinach
for a second minute increases the loss of potassium to up to 72% of its initial
content. The World's Healthiest Foods cooking methodology is designed to
minimize mineral losses, so we recommend you pay close attention to cooking
times to ensure good potassium retention in your foods.
It is not uncommon to find added potassium compounds in processed food.
Examples include potassium sorbate added to foods as a preservative and mold
inhibitor; potassium bisulfite added as a preservative; potassium chloride as a
salt replacer; potassium bitartrate as a flavor modifier; and dipotassium
phosphate as a stabilizer and de-acidifier. In many cases, the addition of

potassium during processing does not add large amounts to average daily
potassium intake. However, in the case of processed products like salt
substitutes, the addition of potassium can be substantial. Some salt substitute
brands using potassium chloride provide over 600 milligrams of potassium in
one-quarter teaspoon.

Risk of Dietary Deficiency

We usually use the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) standards from the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) when setting our own nutrient recommendations.
One subcategory of DRIs are the Adequate Intakes, or AI standards. Based on
these AIs, more than 98% of all Americans fail to get enough potassium on a
daily basis. With other nutrients, we usually focus on ages, gender, or disease
conditions as special risk categories for deficiency. When we discuss potassium,
though, virtually everybody is at risk for deficiency.
Although all groups appear to be doing poorly, women and African-Americans
appear to have the lowest potassium intake. The high risk of deficiency in
Americans is directly related to our over-reliance on heavily processed foods as
our main calorie sources. Whole foods meals like the recipes we feature here on
the World's Healthiest Foods site should help to ensure low risk of potassium
deficiency. Here is an example of a 10-minute recipeMediterranean-Style Salad
that contains nearly half of the daily recommended intake value for potassium.

Other Circumstances that Might

Contribute to Deficiency
Even in people who get plenty of potassium, fluid loss can lead to problematic
loss of potassium. For instance, people undergoing heavy physical training or
who work outdoors on a hot day can run into this problem.
A more common reason to see low potassium levels is in people suffering from
acute or chronic diarrhea. People with ongoing gastrointestinal illness may need
to be careful to maintain normal potassium levels.
Use of certain prescription and over-the-counter medications can also increase
risk of potassium deficiency.

Relationship with Other Nutrients

As mentioned above, the relationship between potassium and sodium is critical

to the health benefits of diets high in potassium. The ratio of sodium to potassium
in a modern, processed food diet is likely to be close to 5:1, with five times as
much sodium as potassium. The U.S. would be a good example of an
industrialized country with this type of high sodium:potassium ratio from
processed foods. In non-industrialized countries where foraging and hunting
determine the nature of the food supply, this ratio can be completely reversed,
with five times as much potassium as sodium. Communities in some parts of
Tanzania would be a good example of this type of hunter-gatherer culture.
Researchers do not know the exact best ratio of potassium to sodium in a meal
plan. But they do know that the average U.S. diet is tilted way too far in the
direction of sodium and not nearly enough toward potassium.
As a general rule of thumb, cheeses, breads, canned soups, and fast foods
would be foods with much more sodium than potassium. Fruits, vegetables, and
non-cheese dairy products should all contain more potassium than sodium.
Food

Potassium (mg)

Sodium (mg)

Sodium:Potassium Ratio

Banana

422

0.002

Summer squash

g296

0.01

Crimini mushrooms

389

0.01

Spinach

839

126

0.15

Yogurt

573

175

0.3

Sardines

360

458

1.3

Fast food cheeseburger

375

1137

3.0

As the above chart should make clear, fresh and whole foods tend to have more
potassium than sodium, while prepared foods tend to feature the opposite ratio.
Because the World's Healthiest Foods recipes tend to feature little to no added
sodium, we are able to preserve this beneficial balance of sodium and potassium
throughout our approach.
Some, but not all, research suggests that a diet rich in potassium may help to
prevent loss of calcium in the urine. The idea here is that potassium salts found
in fruits and vegetables tend to counter the effects of diets high in acid-forming
proteins and that this in turn reduces the need to pull calcium from the bones to
buffer the acid. To date, researchers have shown short-term benefits of dietary

potassium on measures of calcium balance but have not been able to

demonstrate improved bone health.

Risk of Dietary Toxicity

For healthy people with normal kidney function, there is not any known risk of
toxicity from excessive dietary potassium under any circumstance. People with
conditions affecting fluid balanceincluding kidney disease, some hormonal
conditions, and heart failureshould work with their doctor before deliberately
trying to increase their dietary potassium.
It's also worth noting here that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has
chosen not to set a Tolerable Upper Limit (UL) for potassium.

Disease Checklist

High blood pressure

Stroke
Kidney stones
Fatigue
PMS
Diarrhea
Vomiting
Endurance exercise

Public Health Recommendations

In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) set Dietary Reference Intake
(DRI) levels for potassium. Specifically, these levels were Adequate Intake (AI)
levels for different age and gender groups as follows:

0-6 months: 400 mg

7-12 months: 700 mg
1-3 years: 3,000 mg
4-8 years: 3,800 mg
9-13 years: 4,500 mg
19+ years: 4,700 mg

 Pregnant women: 4,700 mg

Lactating women: 5,100 mg
The Daily Value (DV) for potassium is 3,500 milligrams. This DV is the standard
that you will see on food labels. It is also the standard that we adopted as our
WHFoods standard.
There is currently no Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for potassium.

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