Potatoes Can Reduce Blood Pressure

Potatoes are good, again.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Just a couple of servings of potato a day can reduce blood pressure in obese or overweight people with high blood pressure, calling into question the lowly spud's current reputation as a fattening, unhealthy food, according to new research presented at a conference in Denver, Colorado, USA, on Wednesday.

"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, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, who led the research that was presented at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

But before you go out and order French fries, the preferred way of eating this most consumed of all vegetables in the US, consider this: the research was done with purple potatoes cooked in the microwave oven, with no oil or fat whatsoever.

Vinson said when you mention "potato" what generally comes to mind is "fattening, high-carbs, empty calories". But that is because of the way this humble vegetable is usually prepared.

"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," said Vinson, adding that he and his colleagues hope their study will help to remake the potato's popular nutritional image.

They don't.