USDA recommends potato for antioxidants

[GeoUSA]

I can't wait to read the comments on this one. Also note the web site plug at the end of the article for www.healthypotato.com. Ugh...

Antioxidants Found Underground; Potatoes Make USDA's List of Top 20 Most Antioxidant-Rich Foods

6/1/2005 9:02:00 AM


DENVER, Colo., June 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Now there's one more good reason to eat potatoes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently included potatoes on its list of the top 20 most antioxidant-rich foods. The list included the Russet potato, the most common variety consumed by Americans. Further research by scientists in the potato industry indicates that potatoes of color, particularly red- and purple-skinned varieties and yellow- flesh potatoes like Yukon Golds, contain high levels of antioxidants as well.

"The presence of antioxidants is the latest surprising fact about potato nutrition," says Katherine Beals, PhD, RD, FACSM and consultant to the U.S. Potato Board (USPB). "People should be excited to learn this good news about a favorite food, beyond that a 5.3-ounce potato with skin is an excellent source of potassium and a good source of fiber for 100 calories. Potatoes contain no fat, cholesterol or sodium."

The term "antioxidants" covers a class of compounds that work in the body to clean up waste products called "free radicals" that are produced when cells react with oxygen, a process called oxidation. Oxidation is a natural part of aging, but it can result in chronic diseases. Thus, it's helpful to keep free radicals in check.

Vitamin C is hailed as the most potent antioxidant found in potatoes. One medium-sized potato packs 27 mg or 45 percent of the Daily Value for Vitamin C -- a formidable amount that can contribute significantly to total daily intake. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that protects your body's cells. It also helps keep gums healthy and can protect the body from infection by keeping the immune system strong.

Other types of antioxidants found in potatoes include plant compounds, known as phytochemicals, that are responsible for the color in many fruits and vegetables. Examples are carotenoids, which give yellow or orange colors to foods, and anthocyanins, which provide purple and red colors.

-- Additional Research on Potatoes and Antioxidants --

Research by scientists in the potato industry continues to examine ways to increase the antioxidant content of potato varieties.

"There are several exciting studies underway on antioxidants and potatoes -- some are showing encouraging results for potatoes already in the marketplace, and others are exploring the creation of new cultivars that will maximize the antioxidant attributes of potatoes," explains Dr. Beals. "It's an area we're tracking closely along with researchers in the field."

In a recent study published in the American Journal of Potato Research (2004), Charles R. Brown and colleagues demonstrated that white flesh potatoes had approximately 50 micrograms of carotenoids in a 100 g serving, light yellow-flesh potatoes had about three times as much, while brilliant yellow- and orange- flesh potatoes contained upwards to 16 times this amount. In another study published this year, researchers from the Texas Potato Variety Program at Texas A&M University reported results after screening over 320 specialty potatoes for carotenoid content. They found that a particular breed of red-skinned, yellow-flesh potatoes had the highest amount of carotenoids followed by purple-flesh, purple-skinned potatoes.

Research indicates that while white flesh potato cultivars rate similar to published reports for tomatoes and carrots as having a low antioxidant potential, red and purple fleshed potatoes rate about three to eight times higher (average Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) value of 354 mg); ranking them equivalent to sweet potatoes, spinach, and Brussels sprouts.

In addition, research has indicated that potatoes can be bred to contain higher levels of antioxidants. In a 2004 study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, Marcin Lukaszewicz and others successfully genetically altered potatoes to produce species with higher phenolic contents. The flavinoid-enriched potatoes showed improved antioxidant capacity.

Additional research is currently underway and being conducted in universities nationwide and in other countries, including the United Kingdom, Scotland, Germany, Korea, and Poland.

-- Potatoes: A Nutrition Powerhouse --

It's reassuring to know that a true comfort food, the potato, that also contributes antioxidants such as vitamin C, is fat-free and a good source of fiber. One serving of skin-on potatoes (5.3- ounces) also contains 720 mg of potassium, making it an excellent source of potassium. As Americans strive to consume low-fat diets rich in fruits and vegetables to help reduce the risk of some types of cancer, they'll be happy to know the potatoes they already love are good for them too.

To get healthy recipe ideas using the antioxidant-rich potato or more potato nutrition information, visit http://www.healthypotato.com

[DietSka]

LOL. Too bad vitamin C is destroyed during cooking... and I don't know anyone who eats raw potatoes. As for the "good source of fiber" comment, Fitday says one medium raw potato has 1.95g fiber. That's a GOOD source?

Comparatively, a medium sweet red bellpepper has 377% of the RDA for vit C, 136% for vit A (exactly the carotenoids the article author is so excited about) and 2.38g fiber.

[tom sawyer]

Potassium cyanide is also a great source of potassium. But I wouldn't recommend it.

I thought most of the antioxidants were pigments, so I fail to see how potatoes could be a significant source. But even if they are present, the presence of all that starch renders the potato a bad nutritional choice as a staple food.

Here's how potatoes figure into my diet: feed potatoes to pigs, let them get fat, then eat the pork fried in the lard.

[Lessara]

Potatoes are really bad for those with Anxiety and Depression, they can hide symptoms... I know, I was one of them....
Before starting lowcarbing I had potatoes almost every day.
Some meals were only a baked potato. When I started lowcarbing, I felt more anxiety and such, thankfully I was in counsilling and I got medical help but I was so surprised how carbs acted like meds! Creepy.

[TheCaveman]

LOL. Too bad vitamin C is destroyed during cooking... and I don't know anyone who eats raw potatoes.


Heh, me either, since raw potatoes are inedible to humans. And let us not forget solanine, found in the skins, and pretty damn poisonous. I notice no mention of the toxic substances in potatoes in this news release.

A wise man once told me that you can gauge the dangerousness of your idea to the status quo by their reaction. When potato farmers hire Fleishman-Hillard to do their PR, we can assume that low-carb has them shaking in their shoes.

Don't look at this as propaganda, consider it a negotiation in the terms of surrender of the potato industry.

[K Walt]

Okay, so eat the skin, and toss out that spackling putty inside.

Or just take a bite of asparagus, broccolli, bell pepper, artichoke. . .



Note: This was a direct PR release from the Potato industry's PR machine. This did NOT come from the USDA.

Not that a USDA PR release would be much better.

[AJCole]

Okay, I love potatoes. I admit it. But they do not love me. :(

My family have no weight or health issues, so they follow a mom induced maintenance level low carb, based on protien power, for optimum health. I bake them red potatoes every few weeks, but none of them will eat the skins. So I save the skins for my lunches. I butter them, broil them with bacon and cheese, add sour cream and enjoy. I love potatoe skin day! :D

[cc48510]

Broccoli (a common LC alternative to Potatoes) has 137%DV/cup Vitamin C, about 7x the amount in Potatoes (20%DV/cup). Plus, Broccoli contains a decent amount of Carotenoids. Spinach is by far, one of the best sources of Carotenoids.

I like raw veggies (Spinach, Broccoli, Cabbage, Romaine Lettuce, etc...), but absolutely despise most cooked veggies (Potatoes, Beans, and Peas being the exception). For some reason (presumably the cell walls breaking down) most vegetables become sickeningly sweet as soon as even one iota of heat touches them.

All varieties of the Brassica Oleracea plant (Broccoli, Kale, Caulfilower, Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, etc...) are good sources of Vitamin C. Spinach and Carrots (unfairly demonized by some diets because their GI goes through the roof, when cooked) are good sources of Beta-Carotene (Vitamin A).

[Kristine]

I just googled around a bit for top ORAC foods tables, and I couldn't find one that had potatoes on the top 20 list. I wonder how hard the potato folks had to lobby, and how exactly the USDA came to their conclusions.

At least the majority of those foods can be enjoyed on an LC plan, including dark chocolate, which is actually at the top of the list. :cool:

[Turtle2003]

Note: This was a direct PR release from the Potato industry's PR machine. This did NOT come from the USDA.

There's a difference? :confused:

[Dodger]

The potato industry may be a little slow in its PR releases. The only USDA list that I could find is dated June, 2004.

Here is the complete list. Note the lack of vegetables.



Small red beans (dried).
Wild blueberries.
Red Kidney beans.
Pinto beans.
Blueberries (cultivated).
Cranberries.
Artichokes (cooked).
Blackberries.
Prunes.
Raspberries.
Strawberries.
Red Delicious apples.
Granny Smith apples.
Pecans.
Sweet cherries.
Black plums.
Russet potatoes (cooked).
Black beans (dried).
Plums.
Gala apples.

[Ace42615]

In the the book "Life Without Bread" it states that we only need antioxidents because we have been told to eat only unstaturated fats.

[doreen T]

The potato industry may be a little slow in its PR releases. The only USDA list that I could find is dated June, 2004.

..........

Here's our discussion thread about it from last summer .. New Study Ranks Foods With High Levels of Antioxidants (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=196511).

The study only looked at 100 foods, from the following food groups: fruits, vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, spices, cereals, breads, snack foods, and infant foods. No animal products were included. According to the study header notes,quote: This research was supported in part by the USDA-ARS, Produce for Better Health Foundation, and Quaker Oats.

:rolleyes:


Doreen

[kwikdriver]

According to the study header notes,quote: This research was supported in part by the USDA-ARS, Produce for Better Health Foundation, and Quaker Oats.

:rolleyes:


Doreen

Are you suggesting the USDA, produce growers, and a company named after the Quakers would put out misleading and self serving research? Watch out, or Wilford Brimley will be chasing after you, snapping his dentures.

[Dodger]

Are you suggesting the USDA, produce growers, and a company named after the Quakers would put out misleading and self serving research? Watch out, or Wilford Brimley will be chasing after you, snapping his dentures.

He might even stab you with his insulin needles!

[cc48510]

In the the book "Life Without Bread" it states that we only need antioxidents because we have been told to eat only unstaturated fats.

We would still need a certain amount since it is [realistically speaking] impossible to eat a diet where all the fat is Saturated. In fact, a certain amount [a few grams] of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids is essential.


Canola Oil - 7% SFA, 33% PUFA, 55% MUFA
Corn Oil - 13% SFA, 59% PUFA, 24% MUFA
Margarine - 18% SFA, 31% PUFA, 47% MUFA*
Lard - 39% SFA, 11% PUFA, 45% MUFA
Mutton Tallow - 47% SFA, 8% PUFA, 41% MUFA
Palm Oil - 49% SFA, 9% PUFA, 37% MUFA
Beef Tallow - 50% SFA, 4% PUFA, 42% MUFA
Cocoa Butter - 60% SFA, 3% PUFA, 33% MUFA
Butter - 62% SFA, 4% PUFA, 29% MUFA
Coconut - 86% SFA, 2% PUFA, 6% MUFA


The problem is that we are encouraged to eat way too much Polyunsaturated Fats, which are parrticularly prone to Oxidation. Coconut Oil is by and far one of the best oils to cook with because of its high percentage of Oxidation-resistant Saturated Fat, its high percentage of Lauric Acid, and because it contains Vitamin E which is a natural Antioxidant.

*Some of Margarine's Mono- and Polyunsaturated Fats are in Trans configuration, which is even worse.

[Ace42615]

Good Point!

The same book mentioned that meats contain about equal amounts of saturated and unsaturated fats.

[Klodo2]

Originally Posted by DietSka
LOL. Too bad vitamin C is destroyed during cooking... and I don't know anyone who eats raw potatoes.

Heh, me either, since raw potatoes are inedible to humans.
What an odd thing to say. They are not inedible, and if you stay away from the green parts, they're not poisonous either. How do you define "inedible"?

[Yaberhoo]

Heh, me either, since raw potatoes are inedible to humans.

Before I started low carb I used to eat peeled raw potato all the time.

[bluesmoke]

Potatoes. like a number of other vegetables, require cooking to make all the nutrients available to the body. As part of their evolutionary history, most vegetable contain substances that repel or poison insect pests. Potatoes contain alkaloids that are at least slightly poisonous to people and they are destroyed by cooking. This is not to say that raw potato is deadly, just not totally safe, or at least as safe as cooked. Not to say that potatoes are of any value to people with carbohydrate issues, but raw ones have additional problems. Nyah Levi

[Klodo2]

I'll still go by personal experience and this: http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fp97.htmI wouldn't eat raw beans, though, but of course it's not as much fun to hate on them, is it? ;)

[TheCaveman]

How do you define "inedible"?

Not suitable for food.

[RCFletcher]

The starch in potato is contained in cells which have walls made of cellulose. When you cook then the walls rupture and our bodies can get at the starch. Eating raw potato would be as, or maybe less, nutritious than eating grass. Humans are not equipped to break down cellulose. Thus raw potato cells would just go straight through us. Possible poisons present in any green areas of raw potato are another issue.

[Klodo2]

Maybe I'm a bit slow, but I still don't get it. The word "inedible" seems so subjective to me.

If what you're saying is that raw potatoes pass through you more or less undigested and that is why you consider them inedible, would you say the same about the fiber that is added to some types of bread? I guess it's just semantics, but I consider neither raw potatoes nor the fiber sprinkles on my Wasa bread inedible. I suppose because I can eat them and they don't make me ill.

[TBoneMitch]

But, do these itmes offer nutrition (accessible nutrition) to your body?

[MissScruff]

Don't have time to read the responses, but perhaps there is some influence behind the release of this information??? Hate to say it, but I just don't trust what I read anymore so would be careful before accepting this! We know what potatoes will do to us, as low carbers, and we know what foods to eat to counter balance what we are not getting from the potato!

[Klodo2]

But, do these itmes offer nutrition (accessible nutrition) to your body?
As far as I know, yes. Just apparently not very much. But I don't think that's the definition of edible/inedible anyway, since nutrition alone would make a lot of strange things edible.

Anyway, it's not important, I think we just disagree on the definition of the word, but that's not what this thread it about. :)

[TheCaveman]

Maybe I'm a bit slow, but I still don't get it. The word "inedible" seems so subjective to me.

If what you're saying is that raw potatoes pass through you more or less undigested and that is why you consider them inedible, would you say the same about the fiber that is added to some types of bread?

Of course.

I guess it's just semantics, but I consider neither raw potatoes nor the fiber sprinkles on my Wasa bread inedible. I suppose because I can eat them and they don't make me ill.

I don't think it's semantics; we seem to have a genuine disagreement about what humans can eat and what they can't. I agree that the definition I gave for "edible" is just a bit vague for our purposes, but we will have to argue with Mr. Webster on that point some other time. Let's see if we can't come up with a better definition that suits us both.

You define "edible" as: it fits in your mouth and doesn't make you sick.

I really like this definition, because it is nice and scientific, allowing for physical and biological constraints on what we eat. Unfortunately, it's too broad. Under this definition, "edible" includes toilet paper, sand, and pennies, all of which, as most mothers can assure you, pass through a toddler without incident.

The definition above is attractive; it's short and sweet. But until those things are strangely included in the human diet (like if a Quarter Pounder contained actual quarters), I always like to tell a story about the potato to illustrate its place in our dietary lives. (It's a short story, don't worry.)

Let's put you in a room with a little faucet for water, and a door that opened once a day and some crazy-looking guy with a beard walked in and dropped a sack of potatoes on the ground, and walked out. Every day, sack of potatoes, with no way to cook them. You think that you'd be okay, but I'm sorry to say that you would eventually die.

You wouldn't die from vitamin deficiency or protein deficiency, and you wouldn't die from solanine poisoning or chaconine poisoning, even though these are toxic in very small amounts.

You'd starve to death. Your stomach isn't big enough to eat enough raw potatoes to glean enough energy from them to run your body. While a potato is frequently disregarded as "empty calories" (especially around here), a raw potato isn't even empty calories, it's just "empty".

While my sideways attempt at a definition of "edible" assumes that raw potato is the only thing you're eating, raw potato doesn't become any more nutritious if it is eaten with other food. It remains even of less value than a cooked potato, which is why no one really eats raw potato. A microwave oven turns a useless-as-human-food, borderline-poisonous lump into an edible lump of sugar.

A potato, no matter how it is served, doesn't have much going for it.

[kwikdriver]

Let's put you in a room with a little faucet for water, and a door that opened once a day and some crazy-looking guy with a beard walked in and dropped a sack of potatoes on the ground, and walked out. Every day, sack of potatoes, with no way to cook them. You think that you'd be okay, but I'm sorry to say that you would eventually die.

The same is true for celery, and I believe, iceberg lettuce. In fact, there are probably lots of foods that you couldn't live alone on -- most of them vegetables. If the average human being needs at minimum 1200 calories a day to live, that means eating 10 pounds or so of broccoli a day. It would take 15 pounds of radishes. I seriously doubt it's possible to eat enough of almost any vegetable to live in this theoretical room. Are all these vegetables, plus many others I didn't bother listing, then, "inedible?"

[Klodo2]

Thanks, kwikdriver, that's exactly what I was trying to say, but I was struggling to think of an example that wasn't obviously ludicrous.

[TheCaveman]

The same is true for celery, and I believe, iceberg lettuce. In fact, there are probably lots of foods that you couldn't live alone on -- most of them vegetables.

That's right, and just because you combine them doesn't make them any more nutritious, just more palatable.

Please notice that the foods you mention are famous for being foods that you put something ELSE on. A bowl of iceberg lettuce? Not too yummy. Luckily, I'm in the company of people who know how to do a salad right. Sunflower seeds, grated cheese, bacon bits, hard-boiled egg, and lots of dressing makes iceberg lettuce worth eating because those things are actually food. For celery? Peanut butter or cream cheese, please.

Adding fat and protein to otherwise inedible foods is nothing unusual, even though it is a relatively new development in our culinary history. Bread? Butter, jam. Pasta? Sauce. Even your favorite, the potato, is rarely eaten without frying it in oil, or loading it with butter, sour cream, and crumbled bacon. Inedible food is frequently a vehicle for real food, as above. But more palatable, not more edible.

New story. Same room, same water faucet. The difference is that the crazy bearded fellow is now dropping off a laundry basket full of iceberg lettuce every day. Uh oh. You're going to starve.

But just to make it interesting, let's say that one of the Active Low-Carber Forum moderators is going to come to rescue you, in one month.

One month on only iceberg lettuce. You can't live on iceberg lettuce, but the question is Can you live on iceberg lettuce long enough to get rescued?

You can try, but you'd starve to death faster by eating the lettuce than eating nothing. Iceberg lettuce contains far less calories than the calories it takes your body to get to those calories through digestion. Iceberg lettuce, in this situation, is suicide. No food is better than "food" (in someone else's hopeless definition, not mine).

If the average human being needs at minimum 1200 calories a day to live, that means eating 10 pounds or so of broccoli a day. It would take 15 pounds of radishes. I seriously doubt it's possible to eat enough of almost any vegetable to live in this theoretical room. Are all these vegetables, plus many others I didn't bother listing, then, "inedible?"

Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying. There is obviously degrees of edibility if we consider what you wrote above. So what's YOUR definition, kwik?

[kwikdriver]

Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying. There is obviously degrees of edibility if we consider what you wrote above. So what's YOUR definition, kwik?

If it won't hurt you and you want to eat it, it's edible. This is in line with the dictionary definition, not fit to be eaten. Obviously, everyone has their own standard of what is "fit" to eat, but any standard that would exclude a food like broccoli because you can't live on it alone is a little ... extreme -- for my taste, that is.

[TheCaveman]

If it won't hurt you and you want to eat it, it's edible.

This definition excludes raw potato, but includes yarn, pebbles, and toothpaste.

The same way I can't imagine anyone wanting to eat yarn, I can't imagine anyone wanting to eat raw potato, and for the same, exact reasons. And at least yarn isn't poisonous, eh?

I think what everyone needs, and Atkins agrees, is more discretion about what they'll put in their mouths, and perhaps we wouldn't be in the shape we're in.

[kwikdriver]

This definition excludes raw potato, but includes yarn, pebbles, and toothpaste.


There are people in this thread who have said they eat raw potato, yet they are alive and healthy, to judge by their posts.

If someone wants to eat pebbles and yarn, it isn't for me to say otherwise, and I know people who enjoy the taste of toothpaste; my brother used to eat the stuff as a child, in fact.

Ultimately of course, this is silly, and a good example of why it's best to use established definitions of words, instead of making up your own and debating over it.

[TheCaveman]

Ultimately of course, this is silly, and a good example of why it's best to use established definitions of words, instead of making up your own and debating over it.

Heh, I was about to say the same exact thing to you. Yarn is not food.

[scthgharpy]

Being of Irish descent, I can confidently say, that if potatoes had ZERO nutrition and were truly inedible, I would not be here today, as all my ancestors would have died out.

Not to say they were the healthiest creatures on the planet, but they got by.

Humans can live on all kinds of nothing for a long time. We are kind of tough like that.

[Dodger]

Being of Irish descent, I can confidently say, that if potatoes had ZERO nutrition and were truly inedible, I would not be here today, as all my ancestors would have died out.

Not to say they were the healthiest creatures on the planet, but they got by.

Humans can live on all kinds of nothing for a long time. We are kind of tough like that.

I believe that question was whether or not RAW potatoes provided nutrition.

[Ayustar]

Well you CAN survive on lettuce for a month, believe me, that was the ONLY thing I ate, if I ate it at all for a month..longer than that I probably would have died or at least been in the hospital. I agree with Caveman about certain things regarding the raw potato. They aren't palettable, so I would consider them not edible. They ARE, you CAN eat them...but that's gross lol. You could eat vomit too, but would you really want to? You could eat whatever you want, but some things just won't do you much good. That is just my opinion. Just looking at a potato almost says "No nutritional value."

It is a vehicle for real food since we have to do so much to them to make them taste decent.

And Caveman, the salad you described, you bastard, you made me hungry, that, is a real salad.

[Klodo2]

I agree with Caveman about certain things regarding the raw potato. They aren't palettable, so I would consider them not edible. They ARE, you CAN eat them...but that's gross lol.
Are we really going to discuss taste here? Not liking a particular food does not make it inedible. If it did, I would have to say that caviar, brie and peanuts are inedible, and how much sense would that make to most people here? ;)

And Caveman, raw potatoes still aren't poisonous. The green bits are, so that's why I don't eat them.

[TheCaveman]

And Caveman, raw potatoes still aren't poisonous. The green bits are, so that's why I don't eat them.

I disagree. But don't take my word for it; ask a toxicologist.

In fact, you're taking this a bit flippantly for someone who's pregnant, in my opinion. http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/index.cfm?objectid=6F5F0685-F1F6-975E-7F313D49A5266E94 Check out the section on birth defects.

And I'm going to spend the day looking up those studies that link potato consumption and cancer risk.

[Ayustar]

I wasn't debating the taste. I hate salmon, but it is still edible. I was just throwing that in there. Just because it doesn't TASTE good to me, doesn't mean you shouldn't eat them.

There is nothing really WRONG with potatos, they just aren't a first choice for nutrition, or at least, they shouldn't be, raw or otherwise.

[Klodo2]

Ah, the pregnancy police has arrived. I swear they are everywhere, watching my every move. But I haven't eaten a raw potato in ages (or a cooked potato, for that matter), so do I get off with a stern warning, officer? ;)