Nutritional and radiological impact of dietary potassium on the Pakistani population

The nutritional status of dietary potassium and the radiological impact of its isotope 40K were estimated for the Pakistani population. Potassium concentration was determined in dietary samples by atomic absorption spectrometry. An average potassium concentration was 4.54±0.89 mg/g, which leads to potassium dietary intake of 2.69±0.54 g/day and the radiological hazard due to 40K activity was 79.94 Bq/day. The annual and lifetime effective doses calculated for the reference Pakistani man weighing 64 kg due to measured activity of 40K were found to be 1.65×10−4 Sv y−1 and 8.27×10−3 Sv, respectively. Measured data showed that the potassium concentration in the Pakistani diet is adequate and safe according to international standards.