Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is distributed in about 100 edible varieties, from white to red and black potatoes.

About 80% of the weight of a fresh potato tuber is water; almost all the remaining dry matter is starch. Most of the starch (70%) is amylopectin, the rest being amylose (1).

Pro

Its contents contain interesting components useful for maintaining a healthy human body:

• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin C
• Copper
• Fibre
• Manganese
• Potassium
• Selenium

In particular, Vitamin B6 has a cardiovascular protective and protective effect on the nervous system and brain.

The potato also has a number of interesting phytonutrients such as :

• Carotenoids
• Flavonoids
• Caffeic acid

Particular warning about the potato skin, which is a concentrate of phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity (2) and dietary fibres.

Cons

Potatoes are a source of carbohydrates in the diet all over the world and are generally considered high glycaemic index (3) foods, the parameter that indicates how much glucose is present in the blood.

Another problem with potato consumption is the pesticide residue that can be found in this tuber. Warning should be given as to where it is grown and what fertilisation it is subjected to.

In addition, warning must be given to prolonged frying at high temperatures, which degrades the qualities of the oil and the potato itself, generating acrylamide, a potentially carcinogenic molecule (4)

For more information:

"Potatoes : how to store, how to fry"

Potato studies

References____________________________________________________________________

(1) Diego Fajardo, Sastry S. Jayanty, Shelley H. Jansky Rapid High Throughput Amylose Determination in Freeze Dried Potato Tuber Samples  J Vis Exp. 2013; (80): 50407. Published online 2013 Oct 14. doi: 10.3791/50407

(2) Akyol H, Riciputi Y, Capanoglu E, Caboni MF, Verardo V. Phenolic Compounds in the Potato and Its Byproducts: An Overview. Int J Mol Sci. 2016 May 27;17(6):835. doi: 10.3390/ijms17060835.

(3) Lin Ek K, Wang S, Brand-Miller J, Copeland L. Properties of starch from potatoes differing in glycemic index.  Food Funct. 2014 Oct;5(10):2509-15. doi: 10.1039/c4fo00354c.

(4) Di Francesco A, Mari M, Ugolini L, Parisi B, Genovese J, Lazzeri L, Baraldi E. Reduction of acrylamide formation in fried potato chips by Aureobasidum pullulans L1 strain. Int J Food Microbiol. 2019 Jan 16;289:168-173. doi: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2018.09.018.