I just read a new study that I found pretty interesting. I thought you guys would too. It was all about potatoes, an observational study based in Scandinavia. It wasn’t a controlled trial where one group ate potatoes and another group didn’t, so there are some limitations inherent to what it can tell us about reality. What it found is that people eating potatoes had a lower all-cause mortality. Potatoes in the diet predicted better health and a lower risk of death from all causes. That is all it said. 

How do we square this with the general idea that potatoes are a starchy, fattening food, as so many people believe? Well, I’ve never condemned the potato. In fact, on the blog almost 15 years ago, I wrote a series of posts explaining how beneficial potatoes could be if used in the right manner and in the right context. 

To summarize: potatoes are a fairly inoffensive and nutrient-dense source of starch. Refined pasta, bread, or cereal is pretty low in nutrients, which is why they consistently fortify flours with vitamins and minerals (but that’s a story for another day). Potatoes are different. They have a lot of magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, prebiotic fiber, and even the protein in potatoes is extremely high-quality, on par with animal foods. There’s just not a lot of total protein in a potato, but the protein that is there is really high-quality. So then, how do we reconcile this study finding that the more potatoes a person eats, the lower the risk of heart disease and total mortality, with studies that find potato consumption is detrimental to mortality and heart disease? 

This took place in Norway. The way they eat potatoes in Norway is they boil them and mash them, with maybe a little sour cream and vinegar added to make potato salad. They may be mashed with butter and milk, or they may just be eaten plain. Whereas, a lot of potatoes seem to be harmful in populations where the typical potato is fried. Now, you might say, "Oh well, those potatoes are fried in seed oils," and you’d be right—that’s typically the case. But I think even if you fry a potato in grass-fed tallow or coconut oil, it’s still not going to be as healthy as a plain boiled potato.

Where do you fall with regard to the potato debate? Join the conversation.