by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: August 30, 2010   Last Updated: September 07, 2010

The ways in which potassium affects the health of the elderly are varied. Potassium levels within the body affect everyone, though the elderly are more vulnerable than younger patients. To fully understand these reasons, one has to explore the uses of potassium within the body, and what affects the level of potassium stored. Although it may seem obscure to those with little nutritional education, potassium is vital to health in various ways, including these:

•Heart function.

•Protein and acid control

•Nerve and muscle efficiency

•Conversion of glucose

•Lung function.

•Kidney function.

As you can see, the list of benefits of having essential levels of potassium encompass a great deal of health issues which would affect the elderly. At this time in their lives, when a good level of body function is not only desirable but essential, potassium helps to keep the body in order.

So how does this help and what does potassium do?

Potassium helps in that is works as a supply of fuel for the muscles not only those which are obvious to movement, but those which help the parts of the body to function correctly, such as the heart, lungs and digestive system. It helps to expel carbon dioxide. It helps to make the muscles function correctly, and without it, the onset of painful cramps and more serious ailments can be experienced.

Learning to recognize symptoms of deficiency.

The first port of call is the office of a physician, because many people do not realize that having too much potassium is as harmful as not having enough. A simple blood test is needed to establish if this is the cause of the symptoms, which may be attributed to other health reasons. Common symptoms include tiredness, continual thirst, muscle spasms, palpitations, kidney problems, lowering of the blood pressure and vomiting or diarrhea.

As one can see from the list of symptoms, these can often be mistakenly diagnosed and may be caused by other health issues. The blood test will establish the levels of sodium and potassium and a physician will be able to discuss how these relate to the elderly patient. Water retention is another symptom, although clearly can emanate from other causes, such as medicines being prescribed.

Loss of potassium can occur when a patient vomits regularly or has diarrhea simply because the nutritional value of the food eaten may not be retained sufficiently long within the body for the patient to profit from it. This is why it's essential to

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