Health Benefits of Potassium
Potassium’s name is derived from the English word “Potash” and its chemical symbol is “K” having atomic number 19. Potassium is the essential mineral which helps to maintain the body fluid (pH) in balance. That’s why potassium is the 3rd most abundant mineral in human body. In the presence of potassium the process of converting the blood sugar in to glycogen completes it self. The whole composition of potassium in our body mainly found in our cells, but a little bit amount of potassium present in our Blood also. Potassium is needed to our body for the proper functioning of our cells, tissues and other organs. Now its time to check the top health benefits of Potassium as follows:
- Eating enough amount of potassium in your daily diet helps to protect against osteoporosis.It also helps to increase bone strength & bone formation.
- Taking good amount of potassium helps to lowering the risk of developing hypertension (High Blood Pressure) and lowers it retroactively. Taking potassium in your daily diet helps to protect from many cardiovascular health diseases such as heart attack, heart failure, blood clots and strokes.
- Consumption of potassium helps in the proper functions of brain. It also helps to transport oxygen in brain and acts as a neurotransmitters to send signals to our nerves. It also helps to get relief in headache or inflicting allergies in brain nerves.
- When the level of potassium in our body decreases, hence the blood sugar level also decreases. That’s why the decrease in blood sugar level causes headache, weakness, nervousness, sweating and trembling. So get rid of all these said situations always takes potassium chloride and sodium containing fruits & vegetables (List Given below).
- Sufficient amount of potassium intakes helps to prevent kidney stones from developing in the kidney. These kidney stones are formulated by calcium present in kidney but the presence of potassium acts as a agent to keep the calcium from forming. Thus the kidneys helps in the filtering process of potassium ans eliminates it in the urine.
- Intakes of potassium contains fruits & vegetables also helps to keep digestion regular, including effectively breaking down and using carbohydrates. The good amount of potassium intakes in our body helps to treat nutrient deficiencies caused by ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.
- Potassium is used by our body to build proteins, muscles, maintain body growth, maintain electrolyte balance, maintain acidic balance & Control the electrical activity of the heart.
- Deficiency of potassium can cause hypokalemia, which include weakness, loss of energy, fatigue, muscle cramps, stomach disorders, an irregular heartbeat, and an abnormal EKG (electrocardiogram).
- Possible outages due to the deficiency of potassium leads to arthritis, cancer, anxiety, stress, infertility, vomiting, diarrhea, poor kidney functions, dry skin and hair loss.
Recommended Amount of Potassium in our daily diet according to Age as follows:
- Infants (Birth to 6 months): 400 mg/day
- Infants (7 months to 12 months): 700 mg/day
- Children (1 years to 3 years): 3 grams (3,000 mg)/day
- Children (4 years to 8 years): 3.8 grams (3,800 mg)/day
- Children (9 years to 13 years): 4.5 grams (4,500 mg)/day
- Adults (19 years and older) & Pregnant women: 4.7 grams (4,700 mg)/day
- Breastfeeding & Lactating women: 5.1 grams (5,100 mg)/day
Good Sources of Potassium: Bananas, Orange, Avocados, Cantaloupes, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Lemons, Flounder, Salmon, Cod, Chicken, Apples, Apricots, Legumes, Peas, Nuts, Spinach, Lettuce, Kale, Green leafy vegetables, Almonds, Yams, Pineapples, Raisins, Papayas, Milk and many dairy products, yogurt, Brussels sprouts, Broccoli and much more.
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