High Potassium Foods

The grains in this table are not as desirable for those on a low potassium diet as those in the last post. They have between 100 and 200 mg of potassium in a serving. However a serving for the flours in the table is a cup of flour, and a single person's serving from the food item made from the cup of flour is much less. So you will still get only a little potassium and sodium. If made without baking soda, salt or cream of tartar, the final product will be one of the low potassium foods.

Also buckwheat, bulgur, corn flour and wheat flour were not included in the table last week. These can provide a good source of nutrition without too much potassium or sodium. Often one person will eat less at a meal than the table indicates for a serving, especially for the flours.

The values for the flours are what are in the dry flour before using it for baked goods. If the flour is used in baking, and baking soda is added, the sodium content will go way up and this would negate their value to most people on a restricted diet. If the flour is used with cream of tartar because an acidic juice or fluid is added to the flour, such as orange or lime juice, the final product can be too heavy in potassium and will be one of the high potassium foods. If the flour is used by itself as a thickener or for an unleavened product such as a tortilla flat, then the final product may be a low potassium food.

Corn tortillas or wraps can be made with the corn flour listed. Do not use corn meal. It is very different. The advantage of corn tortillas over wheat flour tortillas, other than taste, is that no baking soda or salt needs to be added. The final product has the potassium and sodium proportions listed. A cup of flour makes about 12 tortillas. Traditionally masa flour, which is corn flour made from hominy, has about 3 times the potassium that the listed corn flour has. However, even if masa flour is used, only about 27 mg of potassium and virtually no sodium is in a single tortilla, since no salt or baking soda is added to the flour during cooking. Traditional wheat flour tortillas will have about 200 mg sodium in a single tortilla.

Buckwheat, barley and bulgur are not commonly used as grains in the U.S. But in many parts of the world they make a major part of a meal, as porridge or in a similar fashion to the way rice is often used in the U.S. The total amount eaten must be watched, since it should probably be between 1/2 and 1 cup of cereal to limit potassium.

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.