Potassium is an important mineral, and some parents want to increase the amount of potassium in their child's diet, especially if the child starts complaining about problems such as growing pains.
While extra potassium may not help relieve what is often considered normal growing pains, a diet rich in potassium-rich foods may help:
1) Keep your blood pressure within a healthy range.
2) Reduce the risk of kidney stones.
3) Reduces bone loss with age.
Fortunately, most children can get enough potassium if they eat a balanced diet with a variety of foods.
However, both too little potassium (hypokalemia) and too much potassium (hyperkalemia) pose some dangers.
Children are low in potassium
It is very rare for children to be deficient in potassium due to too little dietary intake.
But if your child vomits and has diarrhea that causes dehydration or excessive sweating, they may begin to show the effects of a potassium deficiency (hypokalemia).
Potassium is lost through watery stools, vomit, and sweat.
Sometimes, magnesium deficiency may be associated with potassium loss and hypokalemia.
Symptoms of mild potassium deficiency include muscle weakness, constipation, fatigue, and malaise.
If hypokalemia becomes moderate or severe, symptoms may include polyuria (excessive urination), difficulty breathing, muscle paralysis, and arrhythmias.
Severe hypokalemia can be life-threatening.
Familiarize yourself with the symptoms of dehydration in children.
While dehydration is one of the most likely causes of low potassium levels in children, it can pose more dangers than just hypokalemia.
Some of the more common symptoms include dry mouth, decreased urine output, and chills in the extremities.
For dehydration, prevention is better than prevention**.
Time also needs to be taken to understand the management of dehydration in children.
Some of the best** ways to restore fluids, such as oral rehydration salts and the Brat's diet, can also help restore potassium levels.
If these fluids do not contain potassium, recovery fluids do not help with hypokalemia.
Excessive potassium intake in children
Excessive potassium intake or hyperkalemia can be just as dangerous as insufficient potassium intake.
However, it is uncommon for children (or**) to consume too much potassium from their diet without taking a certain potassium supplement or to have kidney problems.
Hyperkalemia may cause serious heart rhythm problems as the first symptom, so it's important not to use potassium supplementation tablets unless specifically advised by your pediatrician.
Other symptoms of high potassium include severe fatigue, numbness and tingling in the limbs.
Potassium-restricted diet
Some children may need a low-potassium diet (potassium-restricted diet).
This condition is uncommon, but it can occur in children with severe kidney disease.
Diets with severe kidney failure may include potassium restriction, depending on the process.
Recommended intake of potassium
The recommended intake of potassium ranges from 2,000 mg per day for young children and 2,300 mg per day for adolescents (girls) to 3,000 mg (boys),* 3,400 mg per day.
While it's not necessary to calculate how much potassium your child consumes each day, looking at a list of potassium-rich foods so that you can incorporate them into your child's diet can help ensure that your child is getting enough of this mineral on a regular basis.
Potassium-rich foods
When parents consider adding extra potassium to their child's diet, the first thing that comes to mind is bananas.
While bananas are good for potassium**, many other foods are also high in potassium (over 200 mg per serving), including:
Fish, especially salmon and tuna. Chicken. Beef.
Tomatoes and tomato products such as tomato juice, tomato soup, tomato paste.
Nuts and seeds.
Raisins, dried plums, and other dried fruits.
Potato. Legumes, including peas, lima beans, baked beans, pinto beans, soybeans, and lentils.
Plantain. Spinach.
Papaya. Milk and many dairy products, including shakes, cheese, and yogurt.
Brussels sprouts. Orange juice.
Broccoli. Orange.
Melons. Pumpkin and other dark yellow vegetables.
Many fortified breakfast cereals (especially bran cereals) and other products made from 100% whole wheat flour (such as whole-wheat bread, brown rice, or oatmeal) are also good for potassium**.
Keep in mind that unlike other vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron, nutrition labels don't usually list the amount of potassium in a food.
This makes it all the more important to know which foods are rich in potassium.