High Potassium Foods

Many beverages are low in potassium and sodium unless these electrolytes were added, and thus are among the low potassium foods. Alcohol and sodas are no exception. They are generally low in potassium and sodium unless something is added, such as the salt in a margarita or a mix for a mixed drink.

Nutrition?

Although they provide very little nutrition, some provide healthful effects, such as a single glass of red wine. This effect has also been found in some of the other alcoholic drinks. However, it disappears after one drink, and after 2 drinks the alcohol has detrimental effects. For some people even one drink is harmful. As an example, in smokers even one drink of alcohol compounds the biologic damage from the smoke.

For those concerned about too much potassium, one small drink of alcohol will not cause problems with potassium or sodium. If it is a mixed drink or wine, though, even two drinks can add a fair amount of potassium or sodium, making their electrolyte management more difficult.

This is also true for sodas and other carbonated drinks in the table. While having little potassium, they have a moderate amount of sodium, which will limit intake. They provide minimal nutrition, providing only sugar. In the low calorie varieties, they do not provide even sugar, and the artificial sweeteners are a concern. Some, such as the carbonated chocolate soda in the table, need to be avoided because the excess potassium excludes them from the low potassium foods.

Hydration, Not Nutrition

But the objective of most drinks is hydration and not nutrition. The best hydration is water, although adding some electrolytes can be helpful for most people to help avoid low blood levels of sodium. Hyponatremia needs to be avoided, which occurs when too much water is ingested rapidly without enough sodium. This can occur even with those who have kidney disease, if too much water is taken in too fast.

In certain cases sodas can be helpful in providing hydration. A good way to keep someone hydrated when he is vomiting is to provide white soda with the bubbles stirred out. This is kept down more often than pure water or various broths, and is a useful first step in determining if intravenous hydration will be required. If the flat soda is tolerated, no intravenous is needed and gradual increase in the breadth of intake can be pursued.

The distilled alcohols all had very low sodium and potassium no matter what proof they were, so only the 100 proof was included.

The Table

The serving weight is in grams, and the potassium and sodium weight is 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.