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We’ve got some good news and some bad news.
The bad news is that a new study out of Harvard has established a link between eating potatoes and an increased risk of developing diabetes.
But the good news is not all potatoes are equal: There are plenty of spuds you can keep on your plate, but one preparation has a clear downside.
“We’re shifting the conversation from, ‘Are potatoes good or bad?’ to a more nuanced — and useful — question: How are they prepared, and what might we eat instead?” said lead author Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Nutrition.
The researchers followed over 205,000 people for more than 30 years, taking a close look a their diets.
They found that eating three servings of French fries a week spiked diabetes chances by 20% — but other types of potatoes, including baked and mashed, did not.
That being said, they also found that replacing any type of potato with whole grain foods can lower your type 2 diabetes risk by 4%.
And swapping fries with whole grains? That will cut your risk by 19%, while even replacing them with refined grains like white bread made a positive difference.
“The public health message here is simple and powerful: Small changes in our daily diet can have an important impact on the risk of type 2 diabetes,” said corresponding author Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition.
“Limiting potatoes — especially limiting French fries — and choosing healthy, whole-grain sources of carbohydrate could help lower the risk of type 2 diabetes across the population.”
This is the second study in the past year that’s looked at the relationship between potatoes and diabetes. The last one, out of Australia, found that people who ate the most potatoes had a 9% higher diabetes risk compared to those who ate the fewest taters.
And their findings determined boiled potatoes to be the best option.
“When we separated boiled potatoes from mashed potatoes, fries or [chips], boiled potatoes were no longer associated with a higher risk of diabetes. They had a null effect,” said Dr. Nicola Bondonno from Edith Cowan University’s Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute, which conducted the research.
“It’s only fries and mashed potatoes [that increase risk], the latter likely because [they’re] usually made with butter, cream and the like.”
Picking healthier potato recipes seems to be the key — especially since potatoes actually have plenty of health benefits.
They have lots of antioxidants like flavonoids, carotenoids and phenolic acids, which can help fight things like cancer and heart disease.
And while starch gets a bad name, potatoes have resistant starch, which feed your gut nutrients and good bacteria. That’s great for digestive health and controlling blood sugar.
In 2022, Polish researchers found that glycoalkaloids — naturally occurring chemicals found in potatoes, peppers and goji berries — have some cancer-fighting properties.
“Potatoes are just fantastic,” Caroline Susie, a registered nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told NBC News.
“What happens is, unfortunately, we tend to screw them up by not eating the skin or frying or mixing them with everything under the sun, like sour cream and butter and bacon”
Read the full article here
