Kamis, 10 Mei 2012

'The ultimate wonder food': The humble potato has more nutrients, vitamins and minerals than traditional 'superfoods'

'The ultimate wonder food': The humble potato has more nutrients, vitamins and minerals than traditional 'superfoods'

By Rob Cooper

PUBLISHED: 03:49 EST, 10 May 2012 | UPDATED: 05:54 EST, 10 May 2012


Ignored by dieters because they are 'fattening', few would class the potato as a 'wonder food' packed full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

But the spud is actually better for the body than traditional superfoods - such as bananas, broccoli, beetroot, nuts and avocado, a study has found.

The researchers said people are wrong to shun it in favour of modern and more expensive alternatives.

Superfood: The potato has been disregarded as 'fattening' and shunned in favour of alternatives such as bananas, broccoli and avocado

Superfood: The potato has been disregarded as 'fattening' and shunned in favour of alternatives such as bananas, broccoli and avocado

A jacket potato has five-and-a-half times as much fibre as the average banana - and is packed with more vitamin C than is found in three avocados, the Daily Express reported.

Last year a separate study discovered that eating spuds twice a day can lower blood pressure - and contrary to popular perceptions it won't make you put on weight.

Food for thought: Potatoes have five and a half times as much fibre as a banana

Food for thought: Potatoes have five and a half times as much fibre as a banana

The new research also found that the potato contains more of the mineral selenium than the average child gets from all the seeds and nuts they consume.

The study was completed by the independent nutritionist Sigrid Gibson on behalf of the Potato Council.

They have produced a mobile phone app which compares how good potatoes are with the traditional superfoods.

Sian Porter, the Potato Council's consultant dietitian, told the Daily Express: 'It is important to have a wide variety of foods in your diet but sometimes our heads are turned by new things and we underestimate old favourites like potatoes and how they compare to other, often more expensive "superfoods".'

The researchers analysed the food intake of 876 children and 948 adults for the study.

Sigrid Gibson added: ' We think of bananas as being a good source of potassium, and they are, but potatoes make a more significant contribution to the diet.'

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

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Some readers here have commented on the bad press potatoes have had concerning arthritis. I suffer from osteoarthritis and vary my diet a lot. I find whether I eat potatoes or not makes no difference at all to arthritic flareups. I overcome most arthritis pain with Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM and other supplements. That means I only rarely have to take anti-inflammatories. Other than that I safeguard my general health (as your general health, not just joints is important) by eating potatoes and other healthy food and varying my diet.

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Too many carbs Spuds make you fat Humans designed to eat protein

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Potatoes have more vit C than avocados - so what? I eat avocados for the healthy oils and fibre. - Louise, UK, 10/5/2012 10:58 The oils in avocados are mainly oleic acid, which is widely used in the manufacture of soap. It's also emitted by the decaying corpses of various insects and is used to induce lung damage in laboratory animals, particularly sheep and cattle, to test drugs. Yummy!

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The Irish ate potatoes and milk as the main staples of their diet until the end of the nineteenth century. This would have been supplemented with some vegetables such as turnips or cabbage and fish, maybe once or twice a week. Meat was very rare and the very poorest would have eaten it at Christmas only, if even. However, Irish recruits into the British army was on average a good inch or two taller than their English urban counterparts. This was due to the health benefits of the potato compared to the bread that English men would have eaten growing up. Even if you take into account the fact that Irishmen had grown up in the countryside with clean air and English men encountered pollution beside factories, two inches is a very large difference in height. The potato has even been viewed as a cause of the famine, people eating solely potatoes were healthy, so did not die of other diseases, leading to densely populated rural areas. Certainly cannot be dism issed as a health food.

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Unless you're diabetic...

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The best tasting potatoes are the ones grown in your own back garden or allotment, full of nutrients etc, my friend has an allotment and i am lucky enough to get my hands on a bagful of new dug spuds, i just steam them then add some butter and salt and mint, beautiful, when i have to buy them i always go for the loose potatoes stored in tubs in the supermarket, and would never touch the ones in MS as they actually store them in the chilling fridge section with the lights shining on them, they are supposed to be stored in a dark place or will go green.

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More vitamin c than an avocado? Hardly known for having a high vitamin c content ? Seriously though by the time I have either roasted my spuds in goose fat or covered them in lashings of butter and cheese they aren't that healthy ....... ;)

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bananas, broccoli, nuts and avocado are not traditional, they are imported or modern. The Irish people survived on spuds until the blight.

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I wouldn't believe a word the Potato Council says after what their member did with that donkey.

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But it has no fiber like a piece of yam.

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