Nutritional Potassium Status of Healthy Adult Males Residing in the Rural Northeast Thailand
POTE SRIBOONLUE, M.Sc., M.C.H. *, SUNTHON SUW ANTRAl, B.Sc. *, KRIANG TUNGSANGA, M.D.***, VITOON PRASONGWATANA, M.Sc., M.D.*, SOMBAT BOVORNPADUNGKITTI, M.D.**, PIYARATANA TOSUKHOWONG, M.Sc.****
Affiliation : *Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, ** Khon Kaen Provincial Hospital, Khon Kaen 40000, ***Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkom University, Bangkok 10330, ****Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkom University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Abstract Sixteen villages from rural areas of 8 provinces in the northeastern region of Thailand were randomly selected as study sites. Data on potassium (K) contents in 24-hour urine and serum samples of 93 healthy adult volunteer males aged 20-50 years old were completely collected and covered all 3 seasons of the year. The method of direct weighing of food was used to assess K intake in 13 subjects. K loss through sweat during working (9 hours) in the field was measured in 14 subjects by soaking their worn-clothes in distilled water after which K contents were measured by the flame photometry method. The results showed that the means urinary K excretion of 93 subjects were less than that of the cut-off value for normal (;?.30 mmol/day) in all seasons of which 76.71%, 90.71% and 81.02% of the urine were categorized as hypokaliuria in the hot, rainy and cold seasons, respectively. In the case of serum K of these subjects, though the mean values were within a normal limit (;?.3.5 mmolll), 36.56%, 34.41% and 29.03% of the serum were classified as hypokalemia in the hot, rainy and cold seasons, respectively. In the assessment of K intake, it was clearly demonstrated that the values in all 3 seasons were much lower than that of the estimated safe and adequate daily dietary intake (ESADI) of K for the westerners (1975-5625 mg/day), i.e., the means of intake in the hot, rainy and cold seasons were only 807±172, 877±257 and 902±227 mg/day, respectively. Furthermore, K loss through sweat in the cold and the hot seasons were as high as a third (7.4±2.4 mmoVday) and a half (11.5±1.6 mmoVday), respectively, of the urinary excretion. Though the total body K contents were not evaluated in this study, our results suggest rural people in the northeast region of Thailand may be in a state of K deficiency. The severity is probably worsened in the hot season as seen from the tendency of decrease in serum K levels among 650 renal stone formers and 260 blood donors in this season.
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