Potatoes are a favorite food for many people around the world. Whether they’re baked, mashed, boiled, or turned into crispy fries, potatoes are a big part of our meals. But scientists have found that how we cook our potatoes might affect our health, especially our blood pressure.
A recent study from researchers at Imperial College London looked closely at this issue. While past studies have hinted that eating a lot of potatoes could be linked to problems like high blood pressure and weight gain, they didn’t dig into how the potatoes were prepared or what kind of meals they were part of. This study wanted to fill that gap.
To do this, the researchers used data from nearly 2,700 people between the ages of 40 and 59. These people lived in the U.S. and the U.K. The data came from a large international study called INTERMAP, which looks at how nutrients in our food affect our blood pressure.
The scientists gathered information on how often these people ate potatoes and in what form—boiled, mashed, baked, or fried. They also looked at what else they were eating, so they could understand the overall quality of their meals.
Here’s what they found: if people ate a lot of potatoes that were boiled, mashed, or baked, it didn’t seem to raise their blood pressure or affect their body weight. But things were different when it came to fried potatoes, like French fries or potato chips.
In the U.S., women who ate more fried potatoes tended to have slightly higher blood pressure. Their top blood pressure number (called systolic pressure) was about 2.3 points higher, and their bottom number (diastolic pressure) was about 1.1 points higher. They also tended to have a higher Body Mass Index (BMI), which measures body weight compared to height.
Interestingly, this connection wasn’t seen in men, and it didn’t show up in people in the U.K. either. The researchers think this might be because of differences in how people in different countries cook and eat their meals.
The study also found that the type of meal mattered. If fried potatoes were eaten as part of a meal that was low in nutrients—like not enough vegetables, fiber, or healthy fats—the link to higher blood pressure was stronger. But if the meal had more nutrients overall, fried potatoes didn’t seem to have the same harmful effect.
So what does all this mean? It doesn’t mean that eating fries once in a while is going to cause high blood pressure. But it does suggest that eating fried potatoes often, especially in low-quality meals, might raise your risk—at least for some people.
The researchers say more studies are needed to understand why these effects were stronger in women in the U.S. and not in other groups. But for now, it’s a good reminder that both how we cook our food and what we eat it with can matter for our health.
This research, led by Ghadeer S. Aljuraiban, was published in the journal Clinical Nutrition. It adds to growing evidence that the way we prepare and combine our foods may play a bigger role in health than we once thought.
In the end, potatoes themselves aren’t the enemy. It’s about balance, cooking methods, and making sure the rest of your meal gives your body the nutrients it needs to stay strong and healthy.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that black licorice could cause dangerous high blood pressure, and this common plant nutrient could help reduce high blood pressure.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about how coffee influence your risk of high blood pressure, and results showing this olive oil could reduce blood pressure in healthy people.
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