Potatoes: The new blood pressure lowering superfood
POSTED September 2, 2011 - 09:23 | POSTED BY Neelam Goswami
Last edited by Simmy Mishra on September 2, 2011 - 11:03
The research, headed by Joe Vinson, chemistry professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, suggests that eating purple spuds twice daily could reduce blood pressure as much as oatmeal, without adding weight.
Potatoes no more a fattening food
Although the University of Scranton scientists used purple potatoes in their study, they believe that other types of spuds like red-skin and white may have similar effects.
"The potato, more than perhaps any other vegetable, has an undeserved bad reputation that has led many health-conscious people to ban them from their diet," Vinson said.
But before rushing to include potatoes in your daily diet, read on. The researchers used purple potatoes in their study microwaved them without using butter or oil and with their skins on.
Vinson added, "Mention 'potato' and people think 'fattening, high-carbs, empty calories'. In reality, when prepared without frying and served without butter, margarine or sour cream, one potato has only 110 calories and dozens of healthful phytochemicals and vitamins.
"We hope our research helps to remake the potato's popular nutritional image."
Study details and findings
For the study, Vinson and colleagues asked 18 men and women to include six to eight golf ball-sized microwaved potatoes twice daily for a month, into their normal diet.
Most of the study participants were overweight or obese and were taking medications to lower blood pressure.
After eating the proposed portion of potatoes in their lunch and dinner for a month, the participants’ diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number in a blood pressure reading) dipped by 4.3 percent, while systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) dipped by 3.5 percent.
More shockingly, none of the study subjects gained any weight.
Potatoes lose their nutritional substances when cooked in high flames, used to fry and roast. Microwaving on the other hand appears to be the best cooking method that neither adds fat or calories nor destroys healthy substances in potatoes, according to Dr Vinson.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the study was presented Wednesday at the 242nd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Denver.
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