Going Bananas over Hyperkalemia
A common warning for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients is to restrict potassium (K) consumption. I have learned that this admonishment has been recently modified to include only those CKD patients who are hyperkalemic—whose K lab marker is out of upper bounds.
Also, I have learned that part of this new attitude toward dietary K is due to the realization that dietary K has very little effect upon blood K.
In 2019, I suffered from acute kidney injury due to the contrast dye used in a CAT scan. My gruff nephrologist went ape when he saw me eating a banana and sternly ordered me to avoid them.
Bananas are reknown for their extremely high K content. I see many YouTube videos about kidney disease wherein bananas are featured as enemy #1. I suppose that if a CKD patient like me is borderline hyperkalemic, only one banana would be enough to send me over the edge.
However, the United States Department of Agriculture data base shows that there are 1,610 foods that have more K than does a banana. Do doctors know this? I hope that, at least, the nephrologists know this. Why is this information missing from all the YouTube videos about CKD? My nephrologist has never provided a list of these foods to avoid. And how many foods—not on the list—remain available for my dietary needs?
K is an important mineral for a healthy body. We cannot survive without it. But excess K is bad for some sick kidneys. However, one would need to eat 10-12 bananas each day to just barely supply the minimum daily requirement for K.
Please question all that I say on this subject.