{"id":918,"date":"2021-07-09T19:51:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T23:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=918"},"modified":"2021-07-09T19:51:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T23:51:24","slug":"new-study-finds-consuming-potatoes-is-beneficial-for-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2021\/07\/new-study-finds-consuming-potatoes-is-beneficial-for-your-health.html","title":{"rendered":"New Study Finds Consuming Potatoes Is Beneficial for Your Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You may want to think twice before cutting potatoes out of your diet. A recent study from Purdue concluded that increasing your potassium intake, specifically from baked or boiled potatoes, helped reduce the amount of sodium your body retained.<\/span><\/p>\n

Researchers also found that when a person consumed more potatoes, they could see a higher drop in blood pressure versus when the participant took potassium supplements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Potatoes have been a part of the American diet since the 1700s and today’s American consumes an estimated <\/span><\/strong>121 pounds<\/span><\/strong><\/a> of potatoes annually.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

The researchers also found that having a 330-calorie serving of French fries in a standard diet had no adverse effect on blood pressure levels or a personals blood vessel function.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the Purdue study, there had been little to no research for the impact potassium had on blood pressure. This study proved to be groundbreaking as it tossed many misbeliefs right out the window.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0“Potassium plays just as an important role, and perhaps the ratio of potassium to sodium is most important in the context of the entire food matrix, as the potato meal resulted in a greater reduction of sodium retention than the potassium supplement alone.” Said primary researcher, Connie Weaver, Ph.D.<\/span><\/p>\n

Potatoes account for nearly 20 percent of the vegetable intake for Americans. That may seem like a lot, but researchers said Americans are not eating enough to reach the daily potassium need. Consuming one medium-size potato will provide a person with 10 percent of those potassium needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Considering Americans fall significantly short in meeting daily potassium intakes, these findings show the importance of promoting, not restricting, whole food good-to-excellent sources of potassium in Americans’ diets, like potatoes,” Weaver adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study had 30 volunteers, which were separated into four groups for 16 days. One group was given a controlled diet of 2,300 mg of potassium every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The remaining three groups were given the following choices in addition to their diet.<\/span><\/p>\n