Supplemental Potassium

[Allen Yeh]

Some background:
2 months ago my wife went in for a cranio-cervical fusion, a pretty major surgery, the doctor said it'd be about a year for a full recovery. Since then the neurosurgeon put her on a gluten free diet due to his belief that people with her condtion don't tolerate gluten very well. She decided she would rather go Paleo rather than be on a GF diet and eat all the processed GF foods.

So fast forward to now:
She is on some medicine right now that recommends increasing her potassium intake, however looking at the list of foods that are good sources of potassium she either dislikes or are on the higher end of the carb scale (who wants to eat 5 bananas a day anyway?)

What are some recommendations for supplementing with potassium? Thanks.

[Darryl Shaw]

You can probably buy potassium supplements from your local pharmacy but you need to be aware that unlike food sources of potassium supplements can lead to toxicity and hyperkalemia even in healthy adults. For this reason I'd suggest she overcomes her fear of carbs, at least for the time being anyway, and eats her veggies. And although she may protest her best option, particularly if she's worried about gaining weight, is probably the much maligned white potato because they're a good source of potassium and with just 69 kcal per 100g, or 690 kcal per kilogram (2.2 lbs), there's no way on Earth she could eat enough of them to get fat.

Dietary Reference Intakes: The Essential Guide to Nutrient Requirements (2006): Potassium (p. 371.) (http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11537&page=371)

Dietary Reference Intakes: The Essential Guide to Nutrient Requirements (2006): Special Considerations (p. 376). (http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11537&page=376)

Nutrient data for 11354, Potatoes, white, flesh and skin, raw. (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3149)

www.20potatoesaday.com