Confession: I love potatoes. Mashed, baked, boiled—they are the ultimate comfort food. But are they healthy? Is it okay to eat them every day? And, if so, what is the best way to cook them?
In search of answers—and an excuse to indulge in my favorite root vegetable, guilt-free—I checked in with a nutrition expert. Read on to find out what I discovered. Spoiler: Potatoes are another one of those foods that are healthier than you think.
The health benefits of potatoes
“Potatoes have a bad reputation, and quite wrongly so,” says Christiane Mensching, a specialist in general medicine, geriatrics, and preventive medicine. “They are seen as fattening and fundamentally unhealthy. In fact, the exact opposite is true.” Below, she explains the benefits of potatoes:
1. Potatoes are low in calories
“100 grams contain between 70 and 80 calories, depending on the variety,” Mensching says. “Pasta and rice, on the other hand, have 150 calories per 100 grams.” According to the doctor, the low calorie content is due to the high water content: “Potatoes are made up of around 80 percent water,” she says. In addition, potatoes contain “lots of nutrients.”
Potatoes are also filled with minerals, trace elements, and vitamins such as “vitamin C, which is important for the immune system and skin health; vitamin B1 which is beneficial for our nerves; vitamin B3 which benefits the skin; vitamin B6 for metabolism and for the formation of blood cells,” Mensching explains, noting that, potatoes also contain potassium and magnesium. “These are super important for the heart, but also for the bones. Magnesium in particular is also involved in all metabolic processes.”
2. Potatoes are rich in phytochemicals
“Potatoes also contain many phytochemicals, i.e. flavonoids and anthocyanins, which have an antioxidant effect,” explains Mensching. “This means that they slow down or inhibit oxidation that contributes to inflammation and the development of cancer.”
3. Potatoes are a no-fat source of protein
According to Mensching, the macronutrients in potatoes are also completely underestimated. “Of course potatoes contain carbohydrates,” she says. “To be precise, there are 21 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams of potatoes. But what many people don’t know is that potatoes also contain protein.” According to the expert, there are only 2.1 grams of protein per 100 grams of potatoes, but this can be absorbed particularly well by the body. “Potatoes also contain no fat—they are mostly just water.”
4. Potatoes may be good for your blood pressure
“What I find super exciting as a doctor is that there is scientific evidence that potatoes can have a positive effect on our blood pressure,” says Mensching. “One of the most commonly prescribed types of medications are so-called ACE inhibitors. They inhibit the angiotensin-converting enzyme, which plays a decisive role in high blood pressure. And potatoes contain peptide concentrates that can allegedly also inhibit this enzyme. However, this has not yet been finally confirmed.” Conversely, if your blood pressure is too low, you should not be afraid to eat too many potatoes. “After all, you’re also taking in a lot of fluid, which can raise your blood pressure in such cases,”” says Mensching.
5. Potatoes keep you full longer
“Diet intervention studies in which the test subjects ate potatoes as a source of carbohydrates every day for weeks also showed that these people lost significantly more weight than those who relied on other sources of carbohydrates,” says Mensching. The scientists attribute this to the so-called “potato protease inhibitor”, which ensures that potatoes keep us full for a very long time, “even up to seven times longer than the comparable amount of calories in white bread,” says Mensching. “There are also studies that prove that potato protease inhibitors are anti-carcinogenic, meaning they have a negative effect on the development of tumor cells.”
The healthiest way to cook potatoes
“It is best to cook and eat potatoes with the skin on—that’s where most of the nutrients and fiber are,” explains Mensching. “There shouldn’t be too much water in the pot either in order to keep the beneficial ingredients from being cooked out.”
Cooking potatoes in a pressure cooker is even better than cooking them in a traditional saucepan. “This is done using steam and almost no nutrients are lost. A baked potato with the skin on is also great for preserving nutrients.”
