High Potassium Foods

Most vegetables are high potassium foods, but a few are low potassium foods. For those people on a potassium restricted diet, both types of vegetables are important. The high potassium vegetables are to be avoided or eaten in very small amounts. The low potassium vegetables are to be preferred. But even those foods low in potassium have to be limited in amount.

Types Of Vegetables In Table

Not all foods in the table are low potassium foods. Some were left in to show how different methods of preparation will affect potassium. Notice how boiling pinto beans draws out the potassium, going from 307 mg in the uncooked bean to 93 in the boiled version. This is an example of how boiling food in water can often lower its potassium content. This is true of many high potassium vegetables too. How to prepare foods is important for those who need to restrict potassium.

Other vegetables were left in to show the enormous variation in potassium and sodium that occurs in different types of food that you might think were similar. Different types of seaweed differ enormously. Laver and agar have large amounts of potassium. On the other hand, wakame and kelp are loaded with sodium. Irish moss is the only one with a favorable amount of both.

Herbs And Condiments

Some high potassium herbs and condiments were left in since they are used in such small amounts that they only contribute a small amount of potassium to a dish. For example, parsley has a whopping 6300 mg of potassium in 100 gm of parsley. But it is used in very small amounts. A tablespoon only gives 25 mg of potassium.

Most people on a low potassium diet also should be on a low sodium diet. We left a few salted and unsalted versions in so you could see the huge difference in sodium for the two versions. We also included some canned versions for a similar comparison. For example, notice that canned onions have even more sodium than onions that are boiled and cooked with salt.

The main source of dietary vegetables will probably be broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, lettuce, zucchini, jicama, and cabbage. Small amounts of other vegetables should be in the diet to prevent nutritional deficiencies. Appropriately small amounts of vegetables from the high potassium vegetables table can be eaten, but calculate the amount of potassium you are getting.

The Tables

The weights all are grams except for the potassium and sodium, which are 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.