Great resource for dialysis patients - Sodium and Potassium values in Indian foods!

Potassium is a huge problem for dialysis patients! Almost anything that tastes good has Potassium! Mangoes, bananas, coconut, chikoos!

And all dialysis patients know that they have to avoid anything containing high Potassium. "You may die if your potassium goes too high!" "Your heart will stop working if your Potassium goes high!" "Avoid high Potassium foods like the plague!"

So, that begs the questions, "Can I not have any fruit at all?", "Mangoes, ok, I will not touch them. What are the other things I need to be careful about?" "Can I not have one banana just before dialysis?"

There are sites on the internet that have a lot of information on the content of Potassium in many foods. However, most are based on the US foods. Many of those foods are not even available in India. Nectarines for example! And then there are many Indian foods which are not listed in those sites. Also, many foods are grown differently in the US than in India and the potassium content is different in both the versions! Oranges for example.

All these issues have now been resolved!

Just visit this link on the Dialysis in India website (Disclaimer: that site is also maintained by me!). It has the Potassium, Sodium (and many other minerals) content of a huge list of Indian foods!

So, now you can refer to this list before restricting your food! Enjoy!

Comments

Dr. Ashwin said…
Kamal ... i think we sometimes just over react to biochemical values. I still believe that a small banana a day or 1/4 to 1/2 mango a day will do no harm. Dialysis patients on at least 3 times a week HD should really not worry about eating fruits EVEN IF THEIR POTASSIUM IS A LITTLE HIGH (upto 5.5 to 6).

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