Probably my first learning issue for med school

Learning Issue: What is the potassium content of a banana?

Background: One of our speakers during the orientation, posed this question, "What's the average potassium content of a banana?". He was merely giving us an example of a question that tackles on our recall ability. The lecture was about Adult learning and the subject was on the Cognitive domain. I think he was trying to elaborate Bloom's taxonomy on the Cognitive domain.

I instantly thought, "well the problem is I absolutely don't know it's potassium content. All I know, it's a fruit that has a high content of potassium and is now being advocated as a fruit that helps control blood pressure.".

So what! Right? I wasn't able to answer the question.

And so the quest begins.

Because of their impressive potassium content, bananas are highly recommended by doctors for patients whose potassium is low. One large banana, about 9 inches in length, packs 602 mg of potassium and only carries 140 calories. That same large banana even has 2 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. No wonder the banana was considered an important food to boost the health of malnourished children! Those reducing sodium in their diets can't go wrong with a banana with its mere 2 mgs of sodium. For the carbohydrate counters there are 36 grams of carbs in a large banana.

Vitamins and minerals are abundant in the banana, offering 123 I.U. of vitamin A for the large size. A full range of B vitamins are present with .07 mg of Thiamine, .15 mg of Riboflavin, .82 mg Niacin, .88 mg vitamin B6, and 29 mcg of Folic Acid. There are even 13.8 mg of vitamin C. On the mineral scale Calcium counts in at 9.2 mg, Magnesium 44.1 mg, with trace amounts of iron and zinc.

source: http://www.banana.com/nutritional.html

Synthesis:

Dang! A banana is on average 9 inches in length. I can't believe this! huhuhu!

On a happy note, at least now, I know how much potassium a banana has.