Potassium is a mineral that's vital to the body's functions--such as helping muscles and nerves to move, maintaining electrolyte balance and reducing a person's blood pressure. Potassium is present in foods such as bananas, lima beans, avocado, spinach and papaya/ Consuming at at least 3,500mg per day is sufficient for good health, according to Medline Plus. However, other substances and minerals may affect the balance of potassium levels in the body. These include calcium and salt, the latter which particularly affects the body's potassium levels.
Depletes Potassium Levels
Part of salt's effect on potassium levels has to do with the balance of these minerals in foods that are consumed. For example, foods high in salt tend to be low in potassium, and vice versa. Therefore, if a person consumes a number of high-sodium foods such as processed foods, convenience and fast foods or canned or frozen foods, it's likely he's making choices that don't contain significant levels of potassium needed for bodily functions. Therefore, potassium levels may begin to deplete in the body due to increased sodium intake. A person should aim to consume foods that have five times more potassium than sodium, according to The World's Healthiest Foods website.
Need for More Potassium
Consuming higher amounts of potassium is associated with a beneficial reduction in blood pressure. On the opposite spectrum, consuming higher amounts of salt is associated with increasing blood pressure. Although other minerals--such as calcium and magnesium--may help balance out salt, increased amounts of potassium also are needed when a person consumes a high-salt diet, according to the American Heart Association. Therefore, a person who consumes a high amount of sodium requires more potassium to maintain blood levels that help to prevent high blood pressure and hypertension.
Similar findings apply to the treatment of osteoporosis, according to the University of California, San Francisco.
Boosting the Sodium-Potassium Pump
Although consuming excess amounts of potassium or sodium can have an adverse effect on the other, potassium and sodium are needed to perform vital functions in the body. These include maintaining muscle function, transferring nerve messages and regulating fluid. This occurs via a mechanism known as a sodium-potassium pump. When nerve messages need to pass or muscles contract, potassium exits a cell and sodium enters. This exchange causes an electrical charge to be created, providing the energy necessary to produce the activity needed. Following this, the sodium is attracted to the water outside of the cell and returns to the fluid, which causes potassium to re-enter the cell.
For this instance, sodium has a positive effect on potassium blood levels, allowing the body to perform vital functions related to thought and activity.
