Too much ‘ULAM’ bad for heart!
KUALA LUMPUR: Former teacher Abdollah Amat was wheeled into the Trauma and Emergency Unit
of a public medical centre here in the wee hours of the morning a fortnight ago after complaining of
numbness in his hands and feet.
The 62-year-old city dweller also had tingling sensation on his skin along with fatigue, nausea and chest discomfort. A blood test revealed that his blood potassium level was 7.2 mmol/l. The permissible level for a person is 3.5-5.5 mmol/l. “The doctors who attended to me said I could have suffered
a heart seizure any time,” said Abdollah, who is also a kidney failure patient.
He was diagnosed as having hyperkalemia, a condition where the blood potassium level surpasses
the maximum tolerable point. “The doctors advised me to watch my diet, especially on consuming
less ‘ulam’, my favourite food,” he said. A senior medical science officer at the University Malaya
Medical Centre, Kan Chok On, said potassium is a mineral found naturally in food. It plays a crucial
role in normal muscle and nerve activity, particularly the heart.
“It is a mineral necessary for normal muscle and heart function. However, for some people, high
levels of potassium is dangerous,” said Kan, who works at the centre’s nephrology unit. “The kidneys
remove excess potassium. People with kidney failure have reduced ability to remove excess potassium, causing accumulation of potassium in the blood.” Kan, who has more than two decades of experience dealing with haemodialysis patients, said excessive potassium is flushed out from the body system via the kidneys.
“Any damage to the kidneys, or when these organs are not working properly, may cause an increase
in the potassium level, leading to hyperkalemia,” he said. “Ulam, like petai, and the various green pucuk like pucuk paku, pucuk ubi, daun selom, ulam raja and other green leafy vegetables contain high levels of potassium.
“So do fruits like banana, orange, kiwi, papaya, durian and honeydew as well as coconut and prune juices. You have to exercise caution and limit your consumption of vegetables like bayam (spinach), kangkung (water spinach) and sawi (Chinese mustard).”
