The kidneys regulate potassium (and all electrolyte) levels in your body. For those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) you may have to limit consumption of potassium and other electrolytes. (2)

The list below serves as a suggestion of low potassium foods for your diet and is for informational purposes only. Please work with your primary care provider to establish a proper diet.

Note: The current daily value (DV) for potassium is 4700 milligrams (mg), recently raised from 3500mg by the FDA. (1) This is a target meant for healthy people and is the %DV you will see on product labels in the United States. People with kidney disease should eat less potassium. Please use the percent daily value in this article only as a guide to compare foods and not as a target!

Generally people with CKD should watch their protein intake, as well as intake of other electrolytes. Since other electrolytes should also be watched, the amounts of sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium are also listed below each food in this list.

Foods low in potassium include most refined fats and oils, grains like cornmeal, white rice, and pasta, cheeses like soft goat cheese, and blueberries, eggs, leeks, Napa cabbage, and chia seeds. Boiling vegetables in water and discarding the water can help reduce their potassium and electrolyte content. Further, you can also leech more minerals out by soaking vegetables in water before consumption.

For more information on a CKD diet see the article from Medline Plus and Kidney.org. For more low potassium food ideas see the nutrient ranking tool, nutrient ratio tool, and the list of low potassium vegetables.