Reclassifying potatoes won’t fix health issues

Potatoes are a very versatile vegetable. You can eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. They can be cooked lots of ways on their own, mixed into soups, side dishes, and made into pasta and bread. You can even make vodka from potatoes. Try that carrots!

But one thing potatoes are not is a grain.

Yet, a federal dietary guidelines committee, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services, is considering reclassifying the tubers, which are scientifically starchy vegetables, as a grain.

The committee is trying to solve a very real problem: Americans don’t eat enough vegetables. And potatoes and tomatoes are the most frequently eaten vegetables, with onions, lettuce and carrots far behind, according to USDA data from 2019.

Most of this consumption is through french fries and pizza sauce, which are not exactly healthy. In 2019, Americans consumed nearly 50 pounds of potatoes per person and more than 31 pounds of tomatoes. By contrast, Americans consumed less than 10 pounds of lettuce, in a full year. Americans need to eat more vegetables like carrots, beans, spinach and broccoli. However, misclassifying potatoes as a grain would not mean that Americans would eat less of them and suddenly devour more salads and roasted brussel sprouts.

Instead, the misclassification, which would impact federal nutrition and school lunch programs, would likely confuse people, potentially prompting them to eat even less healthy foods. White potatoes are strong sources of many important nutrients, such as potassium, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and fiber. One medium-sized baked potato contains 15% of the daily recommended value of dietary fiber, 27% of the daily recommended value for vitamin B6 and 28% of the daily recommended value of vitamin C. What we frequently do to potatoes — deep fry them, cover them with salt and butter — can make consuming them less healthy. But again, this isn’t remedied by wrongly listing potatoes alongside wheat and barley. The proposed reclassification also goes against a 2013 National Library of Medicine study that concluded that “potatoes should be included in the vegetable group because they contribute critical nutrients.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins led a bipartisan group of 14 senators from potatogrowing states, including U.S. Sen. Angus King, in opposing the potential reclassification in a letter to the heads of the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services.

“If potatoes were to be reclassified, consumers would miss out on vital nutrients. In addition, any change to potatoes’ current classification under the DGAS would immediately confuse consumers, retailers, restaurant operators, growers, and the entire supply chain,” the senators wrote in March. “That is one of the reasons that the trade groups of both sides of this classification debate have filed comments in opposition to potatoes being defined as anything other than a vegetable.”

A bipartisan group of 28 U.S. House members is also opposing the potential move.

“Given the lack of a scientific justification behind the assertion that potatoes are not vegetables, and the documented nutritional benefits of potatoes, we strongly oppose any reclassification of potatoes to the grain category under the (Dietary Guidelines for Americans),” the House members wrote in a letter to the USDA and HHS last week. We support government efforts to encourage Americans to eat healthier. But classifying potatoes as a grain makes as much sense as trying to make vodka out of spinach.