The scientists reported on the research – done on a group of 18 overweight people with high blood pressure – at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, reporting that average diastolic blood pressure reading dropped by 4.3 percent, and average systolic blood pressure reading dropped by 3.5 percent after consuming between six and eight potatoes twice daily for a month.
“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,” said Dr Joe Vinson, who headed up the research.
“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,” he added.
“We hope our research helps to remake the potato’s popular nutritional image.”
Study details
The research was not done with fried potatoes but with purple potatoes cooked in a microwave oven without oil.
The authors said that the purple potatoes used in the study are becoming more widely available in supermarkets and especially in specialty food stores and farmers’ markets. They explained that although purple potatoes were used in the current study – because the purple skin is especially rich in phytochemicals – they believe that red-skin potatoes and white potatoes may have similar effects.
The team monitored volunteers blood pressure, finding that the average diastolic blood pressure dropped by 4.3 percent and the systolic pressure decreased by 3.5 percent, whilst none of the study participants gained weight.
Vinson noted that other studies have identified compounds in potatoes that have effects in the body similar to those of the well-known ACE-inhibitor medications – a mainstay for treating high blood pressure.
Other phytochemicals in potatoes occur in amounts that rival broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts, and also may be involved, Vinson added.
Vinson said that he strongly suspects a future study using white potatoes, now in the planning stages, will produce similar results.