Potatoes are among the richest common foods in potassium, containing 535 mg per 100g. Cutting potatoes into pieces, peeling, boiling and soaking them can lower their potassium content by 75% to 130 mg per 100g.
How much potassium do we need a day?
The recommended daily intake of potassium is 2,600 mg for women and 3,400 mg for men. Children and teenagers require lower dosages. Pregnant women require about 2,900 mg of potassium a day, while lactating women require 2,800 mg.[1]
How much potassium in potatoes?
Potatoes are excellent dietary sources of potassium. Baked potatoes (with the skin) contain 535 mg of potassium per 100g. This dose is 15% of the daily recommended intake.
Furthermore, a medium potato contains about 926 mg of potassium, or 27% of the Daily Value. A serving contains more than 50% of the DV!
Thus, consuming potatoes could boost our daily potassium intake.
Organic potatoes have more potassium
Moreover, you should prefer consuming potatoes with the skin. The peel is pretty rich in many nutrients. Potassium as well.
In fact, you’ll get about 37% more potassium by eating potatoes with the skin!
Certainly, you should prefer organic potatoes if you don’t peel them. Potatoes are crops with high pesticide residues in their skin.[2]
The potassium content of potatoes also depends on potato cultivars, agricultural methods, soil, and weather conditions.
How to cook potatoes to preserve potassium?
Cooking significantly reduces the potassium content of potatoes. In fact, boiling potatoes is the worst way to cook them. Potassium content of boiled potatoes is decreased by 50%.
In addition, cutting potatoes into pieces before boiling could reduce the potassium content by 75%.[3,4]
Hence, if you want to maximize the potassium intake from potatoes, you better steam them without cutting them into pieces. Moreover, the most potassium is preserved when we bake, roast, or microwave potatoes.
This way, potatoes preserve most of their nutrients as well. Actually, potatoes are excellent dietary sources of vitamin C, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, manganese, and iron.
How to cook potatoes to remove potassium?
In contrast, patients with chronic kidney disease who should significantly reduce potassium intake should boil small potato pieces. Most potassium will leach into the water!
Researchers suggest to patients with chronic kidney disease to boil potatoes and then soak them. In this way, you can reduce potassium content of potatoes by up to 70%. Boiled and soaked potatoes have only 130 mg of potassium per 100g.[5]
As a rule of thumb, patients with chronic kidney disease should consume foods with less than 150 mg of potassium per 100g. Certainly, patients should always consult their physician before changing their diet.
Other potato products are also high in potassium
Moreover, many other potato products could contribute to the daily potassium intake. For instance, excellent natural sources of potassium are (mg per 100g):
- French fries 400 mg
- potato bread with 718 mg
- potato sticks with 1240 mg
- potato chips with 600-1,300 mg
In fact, reasonable amounts of potatoes, as part of a well-balanced diet, are good for weight loss. Prefer cooking homemade French fries and potato chips with an air fryer. Deep-fried French fries can make you fat, as they have too many calories.
Other foods high in potassium
Actually, following a diet high in potassium is easy. There is a wide variety of foods high in potassium. Nuts, seeds, beans, and many vegetables and fruits are excellent dietary sources of potassium. For instance, banana is one of the richest fruits in potassium.
Consuming too much potassium isn’t a problem for healthy people. Too much potassium is easily excreted in the urine. But, people with certain health issues like kidney disease should limit their potassium intake. They should prefer foods with low/moderate potassium levels, such as strawberries.
Health benefits of potassium
Potassium is an essential nutrient. We have to get it daily from our diet.
Potassium is important for good health. It’s present in all body tissues. The human body has about 140 grams of potassium.
Consuming a wide variety of foods high in potassium may lower high blood pressure, and decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.[6,7]
Additionally, potassium may prevent osteoporosis, as it regulates calcium metabolism.
Furthermore, potassium is crucial for glucose metabolism. Thus, it plays a key role in weight loss and preventing diabetes.
Athletes might benefit from a diet high in potassium as well. Potassium is a crucial electrolyte. It’s involved in muscle contraction and transmission of nerve impulses. Potassium deficiency may lead to muscle cramps![8]
