The poor maligned potato. Despite the plant being a mainstay on our plates for hundreds of years, the humble white potato has been castigated for daring to be classed as a vegetable.
Often making up the “carb” portion of our plates, the white potato has been lumped in with other refined carbohydrates like white pasta and rice – filling but nutritionally sparse. But to write off potatoes as “bad for you” is not only foolish but fundamentally incorrect.
Emma Shafqat, paediatric dietitian, says “there’s often mixed messaging because potatoes are commonly served in ways that reduce their nutritional value for example, deep-fried, heavily salted, or paired with toppings”.
The preparation method is what affects the nutritional value, rather than the tater itself. In fact, says Priya Tew, specialist dietitian from Dietitian UK and author to the complete Low Fodmap diet plan, “switching from a deep-fried chip to a steamed, skins-on, cooled-then-reheated potato turns a potato into a gut-health food”.
Thankfully the tide seems to be turning on “potatoes are bad for you”. The far more humble preparation of a jacket potato, for example, is having a resurgence – while public knowledge of UPFs means many consumers will now be seeking the spud in its pure form, rather than in “potato-based snacks”.
Ahead are all the reasons why a simple spud can indeed be classed as a health food, and a preferred option to white rice or pasta, according to experts. Whether you use these facts to justify a second portion of chips is entirely up to you.
Potatoes have more potassium than bananas
White potatoes provide us with an array of nutrients, including: vitamin C (“about 30 per cent of your daily needs,” Priya says), several B vitamins (including B6), as well as some iron and magnesium.
Even more impressively they are a significant source of potassium – “one medium potato actually contains more potassium than a banana,” Priya adds, “which is crucial for blood pressure regulation.” That amounts to 213g of potassium.
However, studies have found that a lot of these nutrients are in the skins – so keep your peeler in the drawer.
Bake or boil to reap the benefits
Like all plants, potatoes also contain a lot of antioxidants, Emma says, “such as flavonoids, carotenoids and phenolic acids. These compounds help reduce oxidative stress in the body”. There are even some test-tube studies that suggest these antioxidants might suppress growth of cancer cells in the liver and colon.
When it comes to preparation, Emma adds that “antioxidant levels are highest when potatoes are baked or boiled with the skin on, and lowest when fried due to the high temperatures and added fats”.
Potato salad’s hidden perks
Potatoes are famously starchy, but when cooked the right way you can harness a particular form of starch to your advantage.
When potatoes are cooked and then cooled (like in a potato salad or to keep overnight and reheat the next day), a portion of their starch converts into “resistant starch”, Priya says. “This ‘resists’ digestion in the small intestine and reaches the large intestine where it acts as a prebiotic.”
Resistant starch has been linked in one study to aiding weight loss, while another found that when people with type 2 diabetes found consuming a meal with resistant starch helped better remove excess blood sugar after a meal.
Great for digestion
When the resistant starch ferments in the colon it turns into short-chain fatty acids – specifically butyrate, which is the preferred source for gut bacteria. As Emma explains, “butyrate is beneficial for gut health because it supports the integrity of the gut lining, reduces inflammation, and provides an energy source for colon cells”. Other plants that result in butyrate include underripe bananas and plantain, and some pulses.
In this way potatoes can actually aid digestion. In fact, butyrate has been linked in studies to reducing inflammation in the colon and potentially aiding people with inflammatory bowel disorders.
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White potatoes much more filling than pasta
This is one of those facts that you probably didn’t need to be told. But there are health benefits to the fact that boiled potatoes top what is known as the “satiety index” created in the 1990s by Australian researcher Dr Susanna Holt.
“[Boiled potatoes] are significantly more filling than pasta, rice, or even steak. This means you feel full faster and stay full longer, which is a major win for big appetites and weight management,” sys Priya . Emma agrees, adding that potatoes’ specific combination of fibre, water, and type of starch “contributes to slower digestion and better appetite regulation compared with many refined carbohydrates”.
There is even some early evidence that a specific protein in potatoes (potato proteinase inhibitor 2) can curb appetite by enhancing the release of hormones that make us feel full.
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