title: Ghanaians Might Be at Risk of Inadequate Dietary Intake of Potassium.
abstract: Adequate dietary intake of potassium (K) helps fight noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mainly hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. This paper (i) estimated the K intake of Ghanaian population using food supply and food composition data and (ii) compared this estimate with the WHO recommended requirement for K in order to assess if there is a risk of inadequate K intake. Food supply data (1961-2011) was obtained from the FAO Food Balance Sheet (FBS) to derive trends in food and K supply. The average food supply in the FBS for 2010 and 2011 was used in assessing the risk of inadequate dietary intake of K. The K contents of the food items were obtained from food composition databases. The mean K supply per capita per day was approximately 856 mg. The assessment suggests a potentially large risk of inadequate dietary K supply at both individual and population levels. The results suggest the need for assessing options for managing K deficiency, including assessment of K supplying power of soils and K fertilizer management in food crop production systems, as well as empirical estimates of K content of food items (including those underreported in the FBS) and mixed diets in Ghana.
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil Science, School of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
authors.forename: David Oscar
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5771-4042
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Yawson
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Science, School of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
authors.forename: Michael Osei
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5243-7472
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Adu
authors.affiliation: Soil Research Institute, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Accra, Ghana.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ason
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, School of Biological Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
authors.forename: Frederick Ato
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9371-5683
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Armah
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil Science, School of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boateng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
authors.forename: Reggie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quansah