Feature Articles: Food, Fitness and Health
Stay Strong, Eat Well, Include Potassium-Rich Foods
Janet Hackert, Nutrition and Health
Education Specialist in Harrison County, University of
Missouri Extension
Staying strong as we age obviously requires remaining physically active, especially focusing on strengthening our muscles. And as always, staying strong also means eating well to sustain and build muscle tissue. In this case, that means getting enough potassium.
Science has long known that potassium is needed for muscle
control. In recent studies done at Tufts University’s Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center, they also found
that including potassium-rich fruits and vegetables in one’s
eating plan has beneficial effects on muscle. More
specifically, older adults need potassium-rich fruits and
vegetables that produce an alkaline rather than an acidic
residue.
Many of the foods we eat – protein foods and cereal grains,
for example – produce acidic residues in our bodies. With
aging, many Americans slowly build up these small acid
residues, resulting in mild acidosis. This condition seems
to “trigger a muscle wasting response,” according to the
researchers. But this process, they say, may be counteracted
by eating alkaline-producing plant foods high in potassium.
Their research showed that those, “whose diets were rich in
potassium averaged 3.6 more pounds of lean tissue mass [or
muscle] than those with only half the potassium intake. That
almost offsets the 4.4 pounds of lean tissue typically lost
in a decade in healthy men and women age 65 and above.”
Bananas are the most familiar potassium-rich food. Some
other examples of rich sources of potassium include sweet
potatoes, tomatoes, beet greens, potatoes, white beans,
prunes, soybeans, lima beans, winter squash, spinach,
peaches, apricots, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, lentils,
plantains, and kidney beans.
The USDA recommends that older adults get at least 4700
milligrams of potassium daily. One medium sweet potato baked
in the skin without salt has 542 mg of potassium. An 8-9”
banana has 487 mg. A cup of lima beans, boiled with salt,
has 955 mg. A medium baked potato with the skin has 926 mg
of potassium. So there are lots of delicious ways to get
what we need.
Resources:
Potassium-rich Produce Helps You Stay Strong as You Get Older, Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter. August, 2008; 26:6:1-
USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search
Last update: Tuesday, May 05, 2009
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