OT : Potassium Bicarbonate

I wouldn't have thought that the amount of sodium in NaHCO3 used for baking is enough to worry about.

Too much potassium is bad for you but I thought the limit is quite high. The most serious symptom is heart arrhythmia. Excess potassium is excreted by the kidneys. If there are renal problems best limit potassium intake/

You could use potassium chloride too. I have no idea how much sodium there is in Lo-Salt.

Of course you still need some sodium, it is an important mineral.

Yesterday, I made two fairly small soda bread loaves. 2 teaspoons of sodium bicarb in each loaf. That's certainly significant for those on a low sodium diet.

I've no experience with potassium bicarbonate but I have used ammonium bicarbonate as a substitute for sodium bicarbonate for baking. There was a recipe that insisted on ammonium bicarbonate but as we were making several batches (Christmas Cookies) we made one batch with our normal sodium bicarbonate and couldn't tell the difference. If your local shops don't stock ammonium bicarbonate it's easily available through eBay.

Nick

Normal potassium requirement is quite high. Around 3.5g/day. That's more than the recommended sodium intake.

Lo-Salt is two-thirds KCl and one third NaCl.

Yes, my body was telling me to add salt during the very hot weather.

Thanks. I was reading about that. Maybe, it's a better choice.

What I read was that it's a good choice for cookies, as the ammonium can escape during the baking process, but less good for cakes and bread - as these stink of ammonium afterwards!

low sodium diet is baloney anyway

Fredxx was thinking very hard :

Kidney issues here and I was told when had one telephone appoinment my potasium levels were too high, at the following one I was told it was now OK, but I had not made any changes. Last week I was sent a dietry appointment.

Likewise I once triggered the diabetes level limit.

It seems once you trigger, they get there claws into you - you stay on their list :-(

I like that idea! I always use LoSalt for cooking and on food, I don't do much baking but if I did, ammonium bicarbonate sounds an excellent idea.

One of the side effects of a blood pressure drug I was prescribed was that it lowered potassium levels. They stopped prescribing the drug and I switched to Lo-Salt (66% KCl, 33% NaCl) reasoning that I was unlikely to go too high and the lowering of my salt intake would replace the missing drug to some extent. I'm passed my sell-by date anyway.

Another Dave

Is that thinking what got you heart surgery?

It's quite a good idea if you have no adequate means to excrete it, however.

That depends on your definition of 'low'. For most people consuming more than 5g of salt per day will damage health.

Above that, and given the correlation between cardiovascular disease and dietary salt, the smart people try and reduce salt intake.

Just one article of many:

I'm being hassled by my GP because my potassium levels are too low. And I have occasional arrhythmia. The level was low when I was in hospital 11 years ago, and they ended up giving me potassium tablets.

Ah. You want to watch the arrythmia. I went to A&E a couple of times with that, until the Vulcan mind-meld they used to stop it no longer worked. After that I got sent to Papworth to be connected to the National Grid. Which fixed it.

It tastes softer/colder to me, not bad just different ...

It was fixed with medication. I have had three episodes lasting about 4 days each, and then it stopped itself. Last episode was January 2020.

I do have a small portable ECG just to check.

No, its what the heart surgeons told me

Oddly enough if you cant sweat and you cant pee your are dead no matter how much salt you swallow.

All a low sodium diet did for me was give me muscle cramps