Potassium in Banana and How to Serve It Well

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The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the report in 2012 that stated about 98 percent of American people do not have enough potassium intake every day. The common solution is eating bananas for increasing the potassium intake in your body. As a matter of fact, bananas have less mineral than other fresh fruits and vegetables. Actually, how much potassium in banana and the benefits to our body? And how to serve bananas without harming the nutrition? Get the detail explanation here.

1. Potassium Content in Banana

Based on the fact of the US Department of Agriculture, a medium-sized fresh banana, which length is between 7 and 7 7/8 inches, contains 422 milligrams of potassium. Meanwhile, adults need 4,700 milligrams of potassium every day. Thus, we can say that a single banana only fulfills 9 percent of the needs.

Actually, banana is not the best source of potassium since it has less than 10 percent of the recommended potassium. Therefore, you should take the other foods which come with more than 20 percent of potassium per serving such as almonds, green soybeans, canned tomato puree, and dried apricots.

2. The Benefits of Potassium

Potassium functions as a trigger for enzymes which break down the carbohydrates and also help in constructing the strong teeth and bones. Potassium is also used for maintaining the electrolyte concentration for your muscles to contract and the nerve system for transmitting impulses. The lack of potassium causes heart disease, osteoporosis, stroke, hypertension and kidney stones.

3. How to Serve 

As a matter of fact, heat won't destroy potassium nutrition. Thus, it doesn't matter whether you eat banana fresh, mashed, sauteed, baked into cakes or muffins. If you want to have a potassium-reach breakfast, try to make whole-wheat banana pancakes or waffles with orange juice.

As a light side dish, make roasted bananas with other fruit. Combine with the grilled fish like swordfish or yellowtail. Both of them contain over 500 milligrams of potassium in one serving. Then, as a snack, you can pair a banana with a mixture of roasted seeds and unsalted nuts.

In conclusion, potassium in a banana is not really big, but you can mix it with other potassium-rich food.

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