Potatoes ‘can raise the risk of killer diseases’
EATING potatoes four or more times a week increases the risk of high blood pressure and killer conditions including heart disease, according to a study.
Boiled, baked or mashed spuds are almost as bad for us as chips, researchers have found.
Yet replacing just one serving of potatoes a week with a non-starchy vegetable immediately lowered the risk of blood pressure.
Interestingly, a link between the consumption of crisps and blood pressure was not found by the US study at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
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Lead author Dr Lea Borgi said: “Participants who did not have high blood pressure at baseline, and consumed four or more servings a week of potatoes – boiled, baked or mashed – later had a higher risk of developing hypertension compared with those who consumed one or less than one serving a month.”
Chips raised the risk by 17 per cent – other ways of cooking potatoes increased the danger by 11 per cent, according to the study.
Some one in four British adults has high blood pressure, with up to seven million people unaware they have the condition. If untreated, it increases the risk of heart attack, heart failure, kidney disease, strokes and dementia. Heart disease remains the nation’s biggest killer, responsible for 73,000 deaths each year.
British Heart Foundation senior dietitian Victoria Taylor warned that the study was able to show only an association, not cause and effect.
She said: “Although a higher consumption of potatoes, such as mashed potatoes or French fries, was associated with high blood pressure, it is still possible that other factors in the diet or lifestyle are also affecting the results.”
She added: “It is also important to note this is a study from the US where dietary guidance and recommendations vary from the UK.
“For example, in the UK white potatoes are not included in the five-a-day recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption.
“And we must remember that, as with all foods, it’s important to consider the overall balance of the foods we eat.
“Nearly 30 per cent of adults in the UK have high blood pressure so it is key that we understand the condition and its causes as much as possible.”
The study’s findings were published in the British Medical Journal.