Dark green vegetables are usually a good source of iron. That is true of spinach, but the leaf has much more to offer. The cold-season crop provides vitamins and proteins, and its mineral content is also a rich one. In fact, compared to its iron stores, frozen spinach’s potassium supply is not that much lower.
Potassium in Frozen Spinach
Unprepared and prepared frozen spinach contain potassium in different amounts. One cup of the frozen vegetable offers 685.54 mg after it has been boiled and drained. The same amount of raw frozen spinach provides 785.42 mg of the mineral.
Recommended Potassium Intake
To help you maintain an adequate supply of potassium, the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine established intake guidelines for the mineral in 2004. The organization recommends that newborns to 6 months of age get 400 mg of potassium daily from breast milk or formula. Seven-month-old babies need 700 mg of the nutrient. A child’s potassium requirements rise to 3,000 mg daily on her first birthday. Four-year-olds thrive on 3,800 mg of potassium daily. When they turn 9, kids do well when they take in 4,500 mg of the mineral every day. Fourteen-year-olds need 4,700 mg of potassium through adulthood. As you can tell, one serving of cooked or raw frozen spinach falls quite short of giving you the amount of potassium you need daily.
Supplementing Frozen Spinach
Instead of packing the freezer tight with boxes of frozen spinach, plan for your meals to include a variety of foods that provide potassium. That beats the boredom of eating gobs of the same vegetable every meal every day. Additional natural sources of potassium include bananas, tomato juice, acorn squash, artichokes, baked potatoes with the skin on, plums and lima beans.
Potassium’s Function
Potassium supports healthy organ, tissue and cell operations. The mineral is an electrolyte, a substance that transmits electrical impulses through your body to power its various systems. Your bowels move, your heart beats and your muscles contract thanks to potassium.
References
- SkipThePie.org: Nutritional Info: Spinach, Frozen, Chopped or Leaf, Unprepared
- SkipThePie.org: Nutritional Info: Spinach, Frozen, Chopped or Leaf, Unprepared vs Spinach, Frozen, Chopped or Leaf, Cooked, Boiled, Drained, without Salt
- Linus Pauling Institute; Potassium; Jane Higdon, Ph.D., et al.; December 2010
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Potassium; Steven D. Ehrlich, N.M.D.; May 6, 2009
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