(USA Today) — French fries and potato chips may have given potatoes a bad rap, but new research finds the lowly tuber — when cooked correctly — may actually be good for the heart.
A small, pilot study suggests that a couple of servings of potatoes per day can lower blood pressure as much as oatmeal without causing weight gain, researchers said.
Joe Vinson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, analyzed 18 patients who ate six to eight small purple potatoes twice daily for a month and found their systolic and diastolic blood pressures (the top and bottom numbers on a blood pressure reading) dropped by 3.5 and 4.3 percent, respectively.
Most patients were either overweight or obese, and many were already taking medications for high blood pressure during the study, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was to be presented Wednesday at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Denver. Experts note that research presented at scientific meetings is preliminary and has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Vinson pointed out that potatoes can be a healthy food when they’re not in the form of French fries or chips, or covered in high-fat toppings such as cheese and sour cream.
Purple ones, in particular, have high amounts of antioxidants, although red-skinned or white potatoes may have similar effects, he said.
The golf ball-sized potatoes used in the study were microwaved, which Vinson called a “benign” cooking method that doesn’t add fat or calories or destroy healthy substances in potatoes.
“Everyone thought potatoes were just a starch and pretty much nothing else,” said Vinson, explaining spuds’ poor nutritional reputation. “I was surprised . . . a very large proportion (of participants) were taking medications and still we had a drop in blood pressure.”
(17 votes, average: 3.47 out of 5)
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Duh!!
It’s the potassium!!!
have never seen purple potatoes.
are these the same as small red ones ?(with which I am familiar) If not , where does one find the purple ones?
They’re sort of an upscale item. They would be carried at Whole Foods or other good grocery stores. They are entirely purple, even inside. You can grow them pretty easily.
I have tried everything else so might as well go along with the potatoes. I love them, but gave up eating them because they were accused of making me over weight..
I have a very effective way to reduce blood presure, I took my mother for general checkup, the doctor found that her blood presure was to high., She is 80 years old, and the problem was not because what she eat, of course she is very carefull with her diet, anyway, she was prescribe to take for life hidroclorothizide, so I investigated and find out the many secondary effects, so I was trying to find out a different solution. I discover one natural treatment that has been working for her like magic. Here it is: Wheat Germ, Nutritious Yeast and Flax oil. You mix them and make a tspoon and take them once or twice a day, in the morning and before bedtime. This treatment do not have any secundary consecuences. I am so happy for her., And very sure that it will work for many people. I wish that the doctors stop giving medicine that they are obligated to prescribe and sometimes medicine that do not have to do anything with the problem just to make a SALE. Sad but true.
Thanks,
Luis
I am curious to start this for myself.
So your mother actually stopped hydrochlorothiazide and started on this natural treatment? What was the blood pressure reading before and after the natural treatment and how long she has been taking natural treatment?
Hi Luis. Thats a very interesting you wrote. I agree with you about the mercinary mentality of many doctors and pharmaceutical companys. What is the exact composition (amounts)of the remedy your mother takes? My dad is 74, and I’d like him to get off the medication, and try something more natural like that.
Regards
Kieran
A pretty small sample and short time span. Over a longer period of time people would put on weight and this would result in an increase in blood pressure.
I disagree. That small amount of potatoes with no high calorie fats added will not result in weight gain.
I agree with Lynn. It is not the potatoes that cause weight gain, it is the stuff that people smear on potatoes, like cheese, cream, creamy sauces, deep-frying them, etc. The best way to cook and eat potatoes is to bake them ‘in the jacket’ in the oven. One or two potatoes per meal add a fair bit of potassium to the diet, as D. Carestia already pointed out.
May as well eat whatever we have to eat. Yesterday News: Terrible potatoes. Today’s News: Terrific potatoes – which one we now!Left to the doctors and scientists, we will all go hungry to stay healthy. Have mercy Lord!
I believe you misunderstand (perhaps intentionally?). This report specially notes that french fries, potato chips, baked with butter and sour cream, etc. are still contraindicated.
Dr Gonzxalez Chacon a Naturist from Puerto Rico has been consisten in recommending a diet rich in potatoes and carrot.
What is nutritious yeast? Brewers yeast? What is that recipe? Equal parts – 1/3 teaspoon of each? I would like to try it but it’s a little unclear still.
I got hipressure is 130/80 take medicine everyday I deed to leave it, whow much potatoes a day eat flesh orgril, thankmuch.
where can i purchase purple potatoes?