Scientists have a fresh scoop on potatoes. A group of researchers from Imperial College London have found something interesting about our beloved potatoes.
They discovered that the way we cook potatoes can affect our blood pressure. Let’s dive deeper to understand more.
Some Background on Potatoes
Potatoes are a common part of our diets. We love them in many forms – baked, boiled, mashed, and, of course, fried. They make our meals exciting.
But did you know that potatoes have been linked to health issues like high blood pressure and obesity before?
Yes, that’s right! Some studies have suggested that people who eat a lot of potatoes might have a higher risk of these problems.
However, these earlier studies didn’t look closely at how people were eating their potatoes. Were they eating them boiled, mashed, baked, or fried?
What else were they eating with their potatoes? Were the meals rich in nutrients or not? This new study from Imperial College London decided to focus on these questions.
The Details of the New Study
This new study was quite big. The researchers gathered data from 2,696 people. These people were all between 40 and 59 years old. They lived in either the United States or the United Kingdom.
The data came from a large study called the International Study of Macro- and Micro-Nutrients and Blood Pressure (INTERMAP).
The scientists wanted to know more about these people’s potato eating habits. They looked at how much and what type of potatoes people were eating.
They also considered the overall diet of the participants and the nutritional value of their meals.
The Results of the Study
What did the scientists find out? Well, they discovered that how you cook your potatoes does matter.
Here’s what they found: eating a lot of potatoes in general, or eating boiled, mashed, or baked potatoes, didn’t seem to affect people’s blood pressure or Body Mass Index (BMI). But, there was a twist when it came to fried potatoes.
The researchers found that for women in the United States, eating more fried potatoes was linked to higher blood pressure.
Women who ate more fried potatoes had a systolic blood pressure (that’s the first number in a blood pressure reading) that was 2.29 mmHg higher on average.
Their diastolic blood pressure (the second number in a blood pressure reading) was 1.14 mmHg higher on average. And this was regardless of their BMI.
And there’s more: these women also had a higher BMI if they ate more fried potatoes. Surprisingly, these links weren’t found in men.
But that’s not all. The scientists also noticed something about the meals these women were eating. If the meals with fried potatoes were low in nutrients, they were linked to higher blood pressure.
However, if the meals with fried potatoes were rich in nutrients, they didn’t seem to affect blood pressure.
What Does This Mean?
This study tells us that how you cook your potatoes can matter.
Specifically, it suggests that eating fried potatoes might be linked to higher blood pressure and BMI, at least for women in the United States. But it also hints that the overall quality of your meals can play a role too.
We must remember that this study is just one piece of the puzzle. It doesn’t prove that eating fried potatoes will cause high blood pressure or a higher BMI.
Also, it doesn’t tell us that avoiding fried potatoes will prevent these problems.
This study was led by Ghadeer S Aljuraiban and was published in the Clinical Nutrition journal.
It offers a valuable insight and opens the door for further research on the relationship between the way we prepare our food and our health.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about unhealthy habits that could increase high blood pressure risk, and people with severe high blood pressure should reduce coffee intake.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and results showing plant-based foods could benefit people with high blood pressure.
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