Grain products can provide low potassium foods for those needing to be on a low potassium diet. Noodles, macaroni, spaghetti, and pasta can provide a low potassium, low sodium source of food. Rice can be a great staple in such a diet. Couscous is another good choice that can be used as a base, much like rice.
If you need to be on a low potassium diet, you need to know how much potassium you can get in a day. This requires that you have someone like a dietitian or physician to advise you on your diet, and on how much potassium and sodium you can have. The lists we have been giving for low potassium foods can serve as a guide to how much potassium you get from a certain amount of a particular food to help you stay within your limit.
Other Limits
Generally if you are on a potassium restricted diet, you will also have to limit sodium. We left two items in that have added salt to show the effect of adding salt. Egg noodles goes from 5 to 165 mg of sodium when salt is added, and spaghetti goes from a sodium value of 1 without added salt to 131 when salt is added. Also notice that Japanese somen noodles have a high sodium value.
Tapioca can be a good choice as a dessert for those who need to be on a low potassium diet. Arrowroot flour can be a good thickener to add to dishes needing more body.
Table
The serving weight is in grams, and the potassium and sodium weights are in milligrams. The potassium and sodium values given are for 100 grams of food.
As usual, K is potassium, and Na is sodium.
Except for the amount of potassium per serving and the potassium sodium ratio (which we calculated), the source of data is: USDA National Nutrient Database Standard Reference – Release 22.
| Food | K | Na | Serving Wt | Serving Size | Ratio K:Na | K per Serving |
| Arrowroot flour | 11 | 2 | 128 | 1 cup | 5.5 | 14 |
| Corn bran, crude | 44 | 7 | 76 | 1 cup | 6.3 | 33 |
| Cornstarch | 3 | 9 | 128 | 1 cup | 0.33 | 4 |
| Couscous, cooked | 58 | 5 | 157 | 1 cup, cooked | 11.6 | 91 |
| Macaroni, cooked | 44 | 1 | 140 | 1 cup, elbow shaped | 44 | 62 |
| Macaroni, protein-fortified, cooked | 42 | 5 | 115 | 1 cup, small shells | 8.4 | 48 |
| Macaroni, vegetable, cooked | 31 | 6 | 134 | 1 cup, spiral shaped | 5.2 | 42 |
| Macaroni, whole-wheat, cooked | 44 | 3 | 140 | 1 cup, elbow shaped | 14.7 | 62 |
| Noodles, egg, cooked | 38 | 5 | 160 | 1 cup | 7.6 | 61 |
| Noodles, egg, cooked, with added salt | 38 | 165 | 160 | 1 cup | 0.23 | 61 |
| Noodles, egg, cooked, without added salt | 38 | 5 | 160 | 1 cup | 7.6 | 61 |
| Noodles, egg, spinach, cooked | 37 | 12 | 160 | 1 cup | 3.1 | 59 |
| Noodles, japanese, soba, cooked | 35 | 60 | 114 | 1 cup | 0.58 | 40 |
| Noodles, japanese, somen, cooked | 29 | 161 | 176 | 1 cup | 0.18 | 51 |
| Pasta, corn, cooked | 31 | 0 | 140 | 1 cup | infinite | 43 |
| Pasta, fresh-refrigerated, plain, cooked | 24 | 6 | 57 | 2 oz | 4 | 14 |
| Pasta, fresh-refrigerated, spinach, cooked | 37 | 6 | 57 | 2 oz | 6.2 | 21 |
| Rice noodles, cooked | 4 | 19 | 176 | 1 cup | 0.21 | 7 |
| Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked | 43 | 5 | 195 | 1 cup | 8.6 | 84 |
| Rice, white, glutinous, cooked | 10 | 5 | 174 | 1 cup | 2 | 17 |
| Rice, white, long-grain, parboiled, cooked | 56 | 2 | 158 | 1 cup | 28 | 89 |
| Rice, white, long-grain, precooked or instant, prepared |
9 | 4 | 165 | 1 cup | 2.2 | 15 |
| Rice, white, long-grain, regular, cooked | 35 | 1 | 158 | 1 cup | 35 | 55 |
| Rice, white, medium-grain, cooked | 29 | 0 | 186 | 1 cup | infinite | 54 |
| Rice, white, short-grain, cooked | 26 | 0 | 186 | 1 cup | infinite | 48 |
| Rice, white, steamed, Chinese restaurant | 20 | 5 | 132 | 1 cup, loosely packed | 4 | 26 |
| Spaghetti, cooked, with added salt | 44 | 131 | 140 | 1 cup | 0.34 | 62 |
| Spaghetti, cooked, without added salt | 44 | 1 | 140 | 1 cup | 44 | 62 |
| Spaghetti, protein-fortified, cooked | 42 | 5 | 140 | 1 cup | 8.4 | 59 |
| Spaghetti, spinach, cooked | 58 | 14 | 140 | 1 cup | 4.1 | 81 |
| Spaghetti, whole-wheat, cooked | 44 | 3 | 140 | 1 cup | 14.7 | 62 |
| Tapioca, pearl, dry | 11 | 1 | 152 | 1 cup | 11 | 17 |
