Can people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) eat potatoes? What about bananas or tomatoes? All of these foods are notorious for being high in potassium. Kidney patients are often told to stay away from them. I have good news! Patients with kidney disease CAN (and should!) enjoy these high potassium foods. Keep reading to learn more about potatoes and kidney disease.
Table of Contents
What is Potassium?
Potassium is one of the most abundant electrolytes in our bodies. Our body would not work without it! Potassium is in every single cell in our body and helps our cells maintain proper fluid balance and nutrient transport. (1)
Potassium is important for healthy nerve function and muscle contraction including arguably our most important muscle, the heart! (1)
Where Does Potassium Come From?
Our bodies can’t make potassium, so we rely on our diet for all the potassium we need. Almost every food has some potassium in it. Fruits and vegetables generally contain the highest amount of potassium. Potatoes, tomatoes, oranges, and bananas are probably the most well-known high potassium foods.
We can also get potassium from dietary supplements. However, I don’t usually recommend relying on supplements to get potassium because a healthy diet can give you all the potassium you need. Plus, fruits and vegetables provide many benefits other than potassium!
Potassium Health Benefits
Eating enough potassium has been shown to help high blood pressure and heart health. In fact, one of the most well researched diets for blood pressure, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, is so good at lowering blood pressure because of its high potassium level. (2)
The DASH diet is very high in fruits and vegetables (up to 10 servings per day), nuts/seeds, dairy and whole grains. A DASH diet is a very healthy choice for people with kidney disease who have good kidney function (a Glomerular Filtration Rate, GFR of 30ml/min or more).
Potatoes and Chronic Kidney Disease
Potatoes are on nearly every single “bad” list for kidney disease because they have quite a bit of potassium in them. One medium potato has about 950mg of potassium in it.
However, potassium in food isn’t NEARLY as big of a deal for kidney disease as we once thought. There is very little evidence to show that how much potassium you eat correlates with potassium in your blood. As with most things in science and the human body, it is MUCH more complicated than that.
Keep reading to understand more about potassium, potatoes and kidney disease!
Potassium and Chronic Kidney Disease
The problem with potassium and chronic kidney disease (CKD) comes from the fact that kidneys usually get rid of extra potassium in our urine. Urine is the main way our kidneys excrete potassium. If kidneys are not working as well as they should, they also cannot get rid of potassium as effectively.
If kidneys can’t get rid of potassium, potassium can build up in our bodies and cause harm. High levels of potassium in the body is called hyperkalemia. Around 10-20% of people with CKD will also have hyperkalemia and it is more likely as kidney function gets worse. (3)
Side effects of hyperkalemia include: (4)
- Weakness or tiredness
- Numbness or tingling feeling
- Difficulty breathing
- Heart attack or abnormal heartbeat
- Death
Other Factors That Affect Potassium
Medications
Some medications can cause high potassium. ACE-inhibitors (lisinopril, enalapril, quinapril, benazepril) and ARBs (irbesartan, losartan, Olmesartan, valsartan) are commonly prescribed in CKD patients and can make hyperkalemia worse.
ACE and ARBs are common in people with CKD because they help keep blood pressure under control and can reduce how much protein is in urine. They are especially common for people with both CKD and diabetes. ACE and ARBs have been shown to slow the progression of kidney disease in people with diabetes and are recommended by the National Kidney Foundation. Even though these medications can worsen potassium levels, it is very important to keep taking them if recommended by your doctor! Talk to your doctor if you are concerned.
Blood Sugar
High blood sugar can worsen hyperkalemia. If you have diabetes, it is important to do everything you can to keep your blood sugar at a healthy level to protect your kidneys, while also keeping potassium within a healthy range. A healthy diet for diabetes is crucial to help keep blood sugar under control.
Acidosis
Too much acid in your blood (a condition called acidosis) can also worsen high potassium levels. Your kidney doctor regularly measures how much acid in is your blood and might prescribe medications to reduce acid, such as a medication called sodium bicarbonate. Diet can also affect the amount of acid in your body.
Constipation
If you aren’t regularly pooping, this could be making your potassium levels worse. Our bodies get rid of a lot of potassium through feces. In fact, bodies with kidney disease adapt and get rid of MORE potassium through bowel movements! People on dialysis lose up to 80% of the potassium they eat through poop!
If you are constipated, your body will absorb more potassium from your food, possibly making potassium levels worse. Eating enough fiber, drinking enough water and exercise can all help with constipation.
Potatoes and Kidney Disease: Can They Go Together?
So, we know that potassium is good for us, but if your kidneys aren’t working as well as they should, you are at risk of hyperkalemia. What is a person to do!? Can potatoes and kidney disease go together? The answer is a RESOUNDING “yes”!
People with Normal Blood Potassium
Most people with kidney disease will fit into this category. If your potassium level is normal (3.5-5.5mEq/L7), there is ZERO reason for you to be concerned about how much potassium you eat. In fact, a HIGH potassium diet packed full of high potassium fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds can help SLOW the progression of kidney disease and prevent heart disease. (2) (5)
The National Institutes of Health recommends adults eat 4,700mg of potassium per day. (1) The average potassium intake in the United States is only about 2,000mg per day, less than half of the recommended amount! (6) Most of us need to eat quite a bit more potassium than we are now. Focusing on eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day will help you reach that high potassium goal.
Potatoes are one of the vegetables highest in potassium. One medium potato with the skin has about 620mg of potassium. This can go a long way to help you meet that goal of 4,700mg potassium each day.
People with High Blood Potassium
If you consistently have too much potassium in your blood, more than 5.5mEq/L (aka hyperkalemia), (7) the first step is NOT to restrict healthy fruits, veggies, whole grains and plant proteins that are GOOD for your kidneys. In fact, there is VERY little evidence that cutting back how much potassium you eat will help high potassium in your blood. (8)
Instead, I recommend working with a registered dietitian to figure out WHY your potassium is high and focusing on improving THAT to help get your potassium down.
In my experience, focusing on these 3 KEY things is a MUCH better way to get potassium levels down instead of a low potassium diet.
- Better blood glucose control
- Lower acid levels (acidosis)
- More regular bowel movements
There is one GLARING similarity to improving ALL of these things. EATING MORE FRUITS & VEGETABLES! Yes, even including potatoes.
Yes, ironically, eating MORE foods that we historically said were “bad” for people with kidney disease could actually HELP potassium levels. And perhaps most importantly, eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds can help SLOW the progression of kidney disease. (5)
Eating enough fiber, found exclusively in plant foods, can help prevent constipation and control blood sugar. All fruits and vegetables help neutralize acid in your blood.
Potassium Food Additives
There is one source of potassium in your diet that is concerning. That is the potassium that is added to many processed foods. Potassium added to things like crackers, chips, prepared frozen and canned food and fast food is absorbed in MUCH higher amounts than potassium in fresh fruits, veggies and whole grains.
Nearly 100% of the potassium added to processed foods is absorbed into your body. Compare this to less than 50% of the potassium found naturally in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other plant-based foods.
One especially surprising culprit of added potassium are “low sodium” products. Many low sodium products have potassium chloride added to them. This adds an incredibly large amount of highly absorbable potassium. One study found that meat and poultry products labeled as “low-sodium” actually contained 44% more potassium than regular versions as a result of potassium additives. (9)
In fact, this important distinction was called out in the global guidelines for kidney nutrition in 2024. (10) The KDIGO guidelines recommend that people with kidney disease eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and plant proteins – and restrict processed foods given their highly absorbed potassium and phosphorus.
How To Spot Potassium Food Additives
It isn’t easy to figure out if a food has potassium added to it. It requires a bit of hunting.
Look for the INGREDIENTS on the Nutrition Facts Label and search for any ingredients that have “potassium” in their name. Potassium chloride, potassium citrate, potassium triphosphate and tetrapotassium diphosphate are common culprits. If you find a potassium ingredient, this means that food has highly absorbable potassium in it.
While you are checking out those ingredients, it is a good idea for people with kidney disease to check for “phos” ingredients as well!
How Much Potassium Can I Eat?
There is NO recommended daily amount of potassium for people with kidney disease. Tracking how much potassium you eat is incredibly difficult to do accurately. It also doesn’t make a lot of sense when you consider how big of a difference there is in the amount of potassium absorbed from a banana vs. a McDonald’s hamburger.
For these reasons, I do not recommend tracking or targeting a specific amount of potassium per day.
The Importance of Registered Dietitians
I imagine much of this article is surprising! Unfortunately, MOST of the nutrition information online about potatoes and kidney disease is outdated. There is still endless advice out there online (and unfortunately in doctor’s offices) based on outdated recommendations to limit fruits and vegetables for kidney disease.
This information is TRULY harming the kidney community.
Kidney nutrition is ANYTHING but straight-forward. A kidney-friendly diet is different for every single person. It will be different based on your stage of kidney disease, labs, other medical history, ability to cook, other resources and most importantly, the foods you LIKE to eat!
Registered dietitians are trained to put all of this together for you. They will help you know exactly what you SHOULD eat to protect your kidneys and make reasonable, realistic, sustainable changes.
Ideally, it is best to work with a dietitian that specializes in kidney health. I have a list of kidney dietitians I love on my Kidney Disease Resources page.
Potatoes and Kidney Disease: The Verdict
People with kidney disease CAN enjoy potatoes! YAY! This myth came to be because potatoes are high in potassium. However, most people with kidney disease DO NOT need to limit potassium! In fact, many people with kidney disease actually need to eat MORE potassium.
Even if you do have high potassium, focusing on limiting potassium ADDITIVES makes a LOT more sense than limiting potassium from healthy foods like potatoes. The next step is to work with a registered dietitian to control your blood sugar, acid levels and constipation. Getting all of these things under control is a much healthier (and more effective!) way to lower blood potassium than a low potassium diet.
Happy Eating!
Melanie
Melanie, I am 77 and in Stage 1-stage 2 of CKD. I need a good “tracker” to record the nutritional values of what I eat so I can be successful on a kidney diet. I have tried several but many don’t even include sodium. Some are not even accurate in the values that some foods have.. Do you know of a reliable tracker for recording : calories, carbs, fats, sugar , sodium , ounces of water, and anything else that is critical to a healthy kidney diet. A good alphabetical list of foods and their nutritional values would be very helpful too. Please advise. I am so frustrated that I have given up on “tracking” like I should.
P.S. Dieticians in our medical system in Oregon are not available unless a patient is in Stage 3 or 4. Perhaps wealthy patients can afford to pay a private Dietician but not the general senior population. Not exactly preventative medicine. Is this just in my state or all over the country? Kathleen
Hi Kathleen. Thank you so much for your comment! Unfortunately, Medicare only covers dietitians for people with CKD when CKD has progressed to stage 3 or more. I agree – not the best. However, at least there is some dietitian coverage! Most medical conditions don’t have any dietitian reimbursement. So, this is definitely a nationwide issue.
I have a list of dietitians who do work with patients on my website – I’m sure ALL of them would love to work with someone in CKD stage 1-2.
I like the Cronometer app/website for tracking. Hope that helps!
so. I make my own bread AND granola. YikeI! Is oatmeal bad for CKD , I had never heard that! my husband Efr is 34 . Did I put him there?!! His b/p is now under control. he does see a nephrologist but I need dietary tips. I googled for a kidney friendly granola and the kidney site had oats, almonds and dried apricots! I’m confused
Hi Celine! Nope! Oatmeal is a wonderful whole grain for CKD. I’m sorry for the confusion. Learn more about oatmeal and CKD here!
Love your website so helpful. I am wondering can frozen hash browns be leached to use in some recipes. If possible how do I leach them.
Hi Kelly! We actually don’t recommend leeching potatoes anymore. It does get rid of potassium – but also ALL other water soluble vitamins and minerals. Instead, I would recommend working with a dietitian familiar with your labs and current eating habits to learn how to incorporate potatoes into a kidney friendly eating pattern for you!
Thanks for your detailed blogs! So helpful! Just curious if clementine oranges and mandarins are considered lower in potassium along with tangerines vs oranges which are on the high potassium list! Is is just a a size thing?
Nope! They actually tend to be lower in potassium even in the same amount.
I enjoyed reading your article about potassium and potatoes. I’m glad I can still have my potatoes. I’m stage3 CKD and keeping my lab results in check. Are there foods I can eat so I don’t lose muscle mass too much?
Hi Tess! Muscle maintenance is going to be more about your entire dietary pattern – not just adding individual foods to your diet. I’d highly recommend working with a kidney dietitian individually to help you figure this out!
I have so much zucchini and I know it is lower potassium but I make a lot of zucchini dishes I am wondering if I should leach it to remove some of the potassium.
Yum! I LOVE zucchini! I can’t say for sure without knowing more about your specific situation. But, my guess would be no. I really don’t like leaching the potassium from most foods because you also lose ALL other water soluble nutrients with it. Ask your renal dietitian to know what is best for you!
Hi Melanie,
My husband ( in kidney failure stage with anemia ) is mostly on a plant based diet now – his protein these days come from beans, 2 eggs ( every other day), salmon twice per week, lots of veg and fruit. His uric acid levels continue to be high ( I have since switched to using veg broths instead of chicken broths to cook his grains), his sodium and potassium levels have always been within normal range, but his phosphorous is a bit low for the first time this month.
I would like to know if it is safe for him to have white yams and would chicken bone broth be beneficial or does that really increase uric acid levels? Thank You!
Hi Annie! I really can’t say what is ok for your husband specifically without a complete review of his medical history and current eating habits. I don’t recommend avoiding ANY vegetables for uric acid levels. Bone broth might have some other concerns, you would have to ask your dietitian what is best for him!
Thanks Melanie! I appreciate that. I was avoiding serving butternut, acorn squash and sweet potatoes because I thought it would be too much potassium even if his levels have been within normal range. Do you know if legumes and beans are safe for late stage Kidney disease?
Plant proteins and legumes are wonderful sources of protein for people with any stage of CKD. The key is understanding how to fit them into a well balanced kidney-friendly diet based on your labs!
would it be possible to lay aside the myth that dried fruit is high in potassium, sugar, fiber, or whatever, and simply realize that it is mislabeled? I love the convenience of dried fruit, so much, that I grow and dry my own. Today for lunch I had 2 prunes. same potassium as if I had eaten 2 plums: 78mg. Not high at all. But the bag aid a serving was a quarter cup. just for fun, I got out my measuring cup, and started to fill it with prunes. It took 8. Who eats 8 plums? It would have been easy to have eaten all 8 prunes in one sitting. And a couple hours later, I’d have been sitting somewhere else, paying the price.
(A side note, every brand of dried cranberries, I’ve found IS high in added sugar, but it’s the only dried fruit that I’ve tried to purchase that contains added sugar.)
I’m not exactly sure what you are asking, Kim! The higher nutrition content in dried fruit is typically related to the portion size – which I think you are alluding to in this comment.
thank you so much. As a kidney stoner, on K citrate, I’ve been following the other half of your blog for almost a year now. Due to a recent illness that temporarily changed my diet, my potassium shot up. Thank God, this is an acute problem. But, still, my nephrologist is not happy. He said, “stop potatoes, tomatoes, oranges, and bananas.” OK, I can do that for a few days. But, as I tried to substitute other produce, I discovered that the ones I chose, were just as high. This list will definitely help.
I’m so glad this is helpful to you! Also, I love that you knew where to go for good kidney nutrition information for kidney function problems as you already knew me from stones. Perfect! Hope that potassium comes down quickly!
Your tips on potassium are good.,but it would be very helpful if one knew how much m g was in each item ,like pear –equallys x a mount orange = and so on
Hi Michael! Thank you for your comment. I like to use this database from the USDA to find that information.
Great information. Please keep it coming!!!
Sawadee Melanie,
Thank you for your information on Potassium… I had been wondering about the tingling, headache, and tiredness. As I live in Thailand, essential communication with the nephro or uro MDs has been a challenge. In fact, Renal Dieticians are very rare over here and mainly if available at the private medical centers. Thus your work and information are welcomed. I am a bit excited that I was able to locate after about 6 months of searching and asking about of health professionals. My appointment with her is at the end of the month.. just need to check how my diet is helping or hindering CKD and prevention of KS.. Thank you again. Cheers
Hello. This is so exciting! So happy that you were able to find and schedule an appointment with a renal dietitian. I hope your appointment goes well!
Melanie, could you talk about various health benefits of different foods specifically for this of us on dialysis?
Hi Ed! That is SUCH a large topic, I’m not sure how to go about addressing it. Which foods and what kind of benefits are you interested in?
What low potassium foods can I have for breakfast ?
Cereal, bread, protein etc.
Hi Celine! A healthy breakfast for kidney disease is different for everyone. Some general lower potassium foods I recommend for breakfast are eggs, whole grain bread, rice or almond milk, pears, peaches, pineapple, grapes, onions, bell peppers and these low potassium cereals.
I’ve found the info on your site so clear and helpful. I haven’t been diagnosed with CKD but my levels are low for my age (71 eGFR at 38 years old). I would like to be proactive to protect the kidney function I have for as long as possible. I found the pages on PRAL and protein super helpful as well as this one about potatoes. Thanks!
Thank you SO much for sharing Lara! It makes my day that you’ve found my info helpful AND that you are being proactive about your kidney health! Stay in touch!
I have learned leaching potatoes can reduce about half the potassium. It can be achieved in two ways: one is to peel and thinly slice or cube the potatoes and soak in warm water at room temperature a few hours, then rinsing before cooking. The second method, and the one I use to cook for my husband, is to thinly slice the peeled potatoes and bring them to a rolling boil in a large amount of water, drain and rinse. Then in clean water, cook about ten minutes more until done. Drain, season, add a little butter and milk, and mash as usual. Garlic cloves can be added to the second cooking if you like garlic mashed potatoes. Beets and sweet potatoes can benefit from this treatment, too. My husband was diagnosed over seventeen years ago, and even though his GFR has been below 15 for several years, and it is now at 11, he continues to feel well and has not required dialysis.
Yes! Leeching, or double boiling, potatoes can reduce the potassium. Thank you for much for the wonderful suggestion. And, so happy to hear your husband is doing well and has been able to avoid dialysis – that is ALWAYS the goal!
Ohhh wow that’s a Great news! My dad is also struggling with CKD. His GFR is 15. We are struggling with the diet. Is it possible to get in contact with you?
Best regards and thank you in advance!
Archana
Hi Mary Jane. You are my inspiration! I was thrilled to learn your husband is feeling well and thriving! My husband is in similar condition as yours, but it has only been over a year now for him. Mine is losing a lot of weight though. I would love to know how your husband is maintaining his weight all these years. Thank You!
Thanks for this! Invaluable.
Being newly diagnosed with stage 3 CKD at age 60 is one thing but just being told to eat a healthy diet as the only piece of advice is another!
It’s a minefield!
I realise I need to ask for my specific figures / levels so I can work out how to eat.
You are so welcome! And thank you so much for the kind comment. It is 100% that healthy eating for CKD is VERY much individual and based on your labs. Good luck to you as you figure out what a healthy diet is for YOU!