Sodium and Potassium Food Facts

Your body is a chemical factory, extracting nutrients such as vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat and using them to manufacture the neurotransmitters (chemicals) needed to keep it functioning. Sodium and potassium are vital minerals used by your body to ensure your health and survival.

Sodium and Potassium

• According to Oklahoma State University, sodium and potassium are major minerals known as electrolytes. Along with chloride, sodium and potassium help to maintain your body's fluid balance by stabilizing the internal and external pressure exerted upon your cells. Sodium and chloride are contained in the external fluid surrounding your cells whereas potassium is the major electrolyte contained within each cell.

  Maintaining fluid stabilization keeps your blood pressure within the normal range. In addition to regulating your body's fluid balance, potassium and sodium work together in the performance of other vital bodily functions such as energy production, bone health, and kidney function. According to the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2005), to keep a healthy balance of sodium and potassium, you should not exceed the daily intake levels recommended for these minerals. Sodium (salt) consumption should not exceed 2,300 mg (1 tsp) per day. Individuals suffering from high blood pressure and older adults should aim for no more than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. African Americans, because of increased susceptibility to high blood pressure, salt sensitivity, and low levels of dietary potassium, should also limit dietary sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day.

  The recommendation for dietary potassium consumption by adults is 4,700 mg per day. Sufficient potassium intake helps to counteract the affects of salt on your blood pressure and can possibly slow age-related bone loss and decrease the risk of kidney stone development. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that your potassium come from foods sources unless otherwise directed by your health care provider.

Sodium and Potassium Food Sources

• Sodium and Potassium Food Sources

  Some sources of dietary sodium include table salt, meat, seafood, milk, cheese, eggs, bread, vegetables, and processed foods. Foods containing high levels of potassium include potatoes, most fruits and vegetables, meat, milk, and legumes. The USDA National Nutrient Database offers comprehensive lists of foods containing sodium and potassium.

Excess Dietary Sodium

• Salt contains 40 percent sodium plus chloride, according to Mississippi State University. A diet too high in salt causes fluid imbalance, which results in an elevation in blood pressure, especially in groups of people sensitive to sodium. African Americans are more prone to hypertension (high blood pressure) and, due to stiffening blood vessels (part of the normal aging process), the elderly also suffer from this disorder. Excess sodium also increases the risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack, and stroke according to "Potassium & Sodium Out of Balance."

Insufficient Dietary Sodium

• Not getting enough dietary sodium endangers your life by destabilizing your fluid balance. Sodium aids in the transmission of electrical impulses traveling between your brain, nerves, and muscles. According to the Washington University School of Medicine, "Central Regulation of Sodium Appetite," sodium deficiency results in muscle cramps, nausea, weight loss, and fatigue. The process of evolution that furnished you with a built-in safeguard against dehydration--thirst--also gave you a sodium appetite to prevent depletion of this vital mineral.

Excess Potassium

• Excess levels of potassium, also known as hyperkalemia, diminish the kidneys' ability to eliminate this mineral. Medications and kidney failure are among the causes of excess potassium. The effects of hyperkalemia include tingling of the hands, muscle weakness, and temporary paralysis according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Severe hyperkalemia can cause cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac arrest.

Insufficient Potassium

• One of the causes of insufficient potassium (hypokalemia) is excess sodium. According to "Potassium & Sodium Out of Balance," when your kidneys flush excess sodium out of your body, potassium also gets excreted in your urine. The Linus Pauling Institute states that this condition can also result from excessive vomiting, diuretics, and kidney disease. Fatigue, muscle weakness and cramps, constipation, abdominal pain, and, in severe cases, cardiac arrhythmias are symptoms of hypokalemia. Insufficient dietary potassium is associated with the incidence of stroke and osteoporosis.