I. The role of potassium for human body
Potassium is an electrolyte that is widely present in the human body and is an important substance for life. Potassium can regulate the appropriate osmotic pressure in cells and the acid-base balance of body fluids, and participate in the metabolism of sugar and protein in cells. It helps to maintain neurological health, normal heartbeat pattern, can prevent stroke, and assists in normal muscle contraction. Potassium has a hypotensive effect when high blood pressure is caused by high sodium intake.
Potassium deficiency in the body can cause irregular and accelerated heartbeat, abnormal electrocardiogram, muscle weakness and irritability, and eventually cardiac arrest. In general, healthy people will automatically excrete excess potassium from the body, but people with kidney disease should be especially careful to avoid excessive potassium intake.
Potassium is essential for life, working together with sodium to regulate the water balance in the body and to regularize the heartbeat. Potassium is important for intracellular chemistry and plays an important role in helping to maintain stable blood pressure and in the transmission of nerve activity.
Potassium deficiency reduces muscle excitability, preventing smooth muscle contraction and relaxation and making it easy to burn out. In addition, it can hinder intestinal peristalsis and cause constipation; it can also lead to swelling, hemiplegia and heart attack. When the body does not take enough potassium, sodium will carry a lot of water into the cells, causing them to rupture and lead to edema. A lack of potassium in the blood can cause high blood sugar, leading to hyperglycemia. In addition, potassium deficiency causes the most serious damage to the heart.
Second, why the elderly are prone to potassium deficiency
1.Insufficient intake
The general diet is rich in potassium. Therefore, as long as you can eat normally, your body will not be deficient in potassium. If the daily intake of potassium is less than 3g and lasts for more than 2 weeks, low potassium will appear in people who have been fasting for a long time, eating less, or eating irregularly. People who drink a lot of coffee, alcohol and love sweets are more easily fatigued, which is caused by potassium deficiency. When you lose weight without eating staple foods (carbohydrates), you lose not only weight, but also potassium levels in your body. This will result in weakened physical strength and slow reaction.
2.Excessive excretion
Mainly through the gastrointestinal or renal loss of.
(1) Long-term massive vomiting, diarrhea, gastrointestinal drainage, fistula, dialysis and other people mostly lose potassium via gastrointestinal.
(2) Loss of potassium via kidney, which is the most common cause in adults. Long-term continuous use or excessive dosage of diuretics, such as furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide, bumetanide, etc.; certain renal or endocrine diseases, such as acute renal failure, polyuria, renal tubular acidosis, primary or secondary aldosteronism, etc;
(3) Transdermal potassium loss: sweat contains only 9 mmol/L. Under normal circumstances, sweating does not cause hypokalemia. In general, sweating does not cause hypokalemia, but heavy physical work in a hot environment can lead to loss of potassium.
(4) Hypokalemia can occur when extracellular potassium is transferred to intracellular cells, but the total amount of potassium in the body does not decrease as a result. For example, when a diabetic patient overdoses insulin, or uses high doses of insulin to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, the chance of hypokalemia increases. And so on.
III. Symptoms and dangers of potassium deficiency in the elderly
Potassium deficiency reduces muscle excitability, which prevents muscle contraction and relaxation and makes it easy to burn out. In addition, it can hinder intestinal peristalsis and cause constipation; it can also lead to swelling, hemiplegia and heart attack. When the body does not take enough potassium, sodium will carry a lot of water into the cells, causing them to break down and lead to edema. Lack of potassium in the blood can cause high blood sugar, leading to hyperglycemia. In addition, potassium deficiency causes the most serious damage to the heart, and a lack of potassium is probably the leading cause of death in humans due to heart disease.
When the body is deficient in potassium, it can cause general weakness, fatigue, irregular heart rate, dizziness, and severe potassium deficiency can lead to death from respiratory muscle paralysis. In addition, low potassium can slow down gastrointestinal motility, leading to intestinal paralysis, increased anorexia, nausea, vomiting and abdominal distension. Clinical data also proves that people with heat stroke have reduced potassium in their blood.
4. How to supplement potassium in the elderly
The key to prevent and treat low potassium is potassium supplementation. But the safest and most effective way is to eat more potassium-rich foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Fruits rich in potassium include bananas, strawberries, oranges, grapes, grapefruit, watermelon, etc. Vegetables such as spinach, yam, beans, amaranth, onion, etc. are also rich in potassium, as are soybeans, mung beans, fava beans, kelp, nori, yellow fish, chicken, milk, cornmeal, etc. They also contain a certain amount of potassium. Various juices, especially orange juice, are also rich in potassium and can replenish water and energy. It is measured to contain 1.1% to 2.3% of potassium, so tea is the best summer drink.
V. What should elderly people with potassium deficiency pay attention to in their lives?
Prevention is the key, there are many causes of potassium deficiency, especially in the process of clinical treatment. We should pay more attention to prevent the occurrence of this disease. Remove the causes of the disease in time; for the elderly who may suffer from potassium deficiency, such as long time fasting and more loss of body fluid, they should supplement potassium in time, such as oral potassium chloride controlled release tablets or 10% potassium chloride; resume normal diet as early as possible, usually eat more vegetables and fruits rich in potassium, such as bananas, almonds, walnuts, spinach, etc.
6. Is potassium supplementation for the elderly a one-time solution? Or do they need to be maintained for a long time?
Any element that is consumed in excess of normal levels can be toxic. Each element has an optimal range in the body.
When supplementing potassium, the following principles should be followed.
1. The concentration should not be too high: too high a concentration can be dangerous for potassium poisoning. In addition, too high a concentration of intravenous potassium chloride can stimulate the veins and cause pain, even venous spasm and thrombosis.
2, the speed should not be too fast: a sudden increase in serum potassium concentration can lead to cardiac arrest, the speed of K+ into the cell is very slow, about 15h to reach intracellular and extracellular equilibrium, and in the case of cellular insufficiency such as hypoxia, acidosis, etc., the equilibrium time of potassium is longer, about 1 week or more, so it takes several days to correct potassium deficiency, do not be too hasty or stop replenishment in the middle.
3. Potassium supplementation should not be done too early: before potassium supplementation, the renal function must be clarified. Only when the renal function is determined to be good or when the urine volume is above 30-40 ml/h (or 500 ml/d), then potassium supplementation should be done.
4. The amount of potassium supplementation should not be too much: the daily amount of potassium supplementation and the total number of days of potassium supplementation should be decided according to the causes of potassium loss, changes in clinical symptoms, blood potassium measurement and electrocardiogram tracing. When supplementing a large amount of potassium in a short period of time or for a long period of time, regular observation is needed to measure serum potassium and electrocardiogram to avoid hyperkalemia.
What other micronutrients are more likely to be deficient in the elderly?
With the aging of the elderly, the digestive and absorption functions of the gastrointestinal tract are weakened, so the ability of the elderly to take in various trace elements gradually decreases, and the amount in their bodies gradually decreases. Proper supplementation of essential trace elements for the elderly plays an important role in anti-aging, prevention and treatment of various diseases.
1.Essential trace elements, 8 kinds in total, including iodine, zinc, selenium, copper, molybdenum, chromium, cobalt and iron.
2.The human body may be essential elements, a total of five, including manganese, silicon, boron, vanadium and nickel.
3, potentially toxic, but at low doses, may have the human body essential functions of the elements, including fluorine, lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, aluminum and tin, a total of seven.
Trace elements in the human body are dissolved in the human blood. If there is a lack of such and such trace elements, people will get sick, and even lead to death. Normal people need to take in a variety of trace elements that are beneficial to their bodies every day. Namely: iron, zinc, copper, manganese, iodine, cobalt, strontium, chromium, selenium and other trace elements.
Although the demand for trace elements in the human body is very low, but their role is very large. For example, “manganese” can stimulate the cellular value-added of immune organs and greatly increase the survival rate of macrophages, which have the functions of phagocytosis, sterilization, cancer suppression and tumor lysis. “Zinc” is an important life-related element directly involved in immune function, because zinc has immune function, so the zinc content in white blood cells is 25 times higher than that in red blood cells. “Strontium and chromium can prevent high blood pressure, prevent diabetes, high blood lipids and gallstones. “Iodine” can cure goiter, arteriosclerosis, improve intelligence and sexual function. “Selenium” is the main element in the immune system to fight cancer, can directly kill tumor cells.