Forget what you've heard: Potatoes are a superfood

[quote]Potatoes have gotten a bad rap over the years, but new research from the US has revealed that the common spud is an unlikely superfood with heart health benefits.

"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 lead researcher Dr Joe Vinson, from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, US.

"Mention 'potato' and people think 'fattening, hígh-carbs, empty calories'," he said.

"In reality, when prepared without frying and served without butter, margarine or sour cream, one potato has only 110 calories (460 kilojoules) and dozens of healthful phytochemicals and vitamins."
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In the study 18 overweight/obese individuals, most of whom where on medication for hígh-blood pressure, ate six to eight purple-skin potatoes twice daily for a month.

Scientists monitored their blood pressure throughout and found that average diastolic (minimum) blood pressure dropped by 4.3 percent and the systolic (maximum) pressure decreased by 3.5 percent.

Dr Vinson said that said previous studies had identified substances in potatoes which acted in the same way as ACE inhibitors, drúgs which control hígh-blood pressure.

While purple-skinned potatoes were used, researchers said other varieties were likely to have the same effect.

The study was delívered at the 242nd Natíonal Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Read more and view video @ http://health.ninemsn.com.au/dietandnut ... -superfood