Supporting Tasmanian Potato Farmers

The NHMRC have recently reviewed their dietary guidelines, recommending increased consumption of fruit and vegetables and reduced consumption of starchy vegetables such as potatoes.  One of the key things to come out of this dietary review is that the message regarding the health benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables remains strong.

Tasmanian potato farmers are, not surprisingly, disappointed by this news. Potatoes are a good source of vitamins C, B6 (pyridoxine), potassium and the mineral manganese, as well as dietary fibre. I suspect a lot of the reasons ‘starchy vegetables’ are being singled out is that they are most often consumed fried with additional salt either as hot chips or cold crisps/chips.  When potatoes and other foods are fried, the formation of acrylamide can occur, and this has reasonably recently become known to be detrimental to human health. There are many more interesting ways to cook the newer varieties which are available.  It would be interesting to separate out the scientific studies looking at fried forms of potatoes and other starchy vegetables, and those studies which considered other cooking methods.

Many of the newer varieties (and some of these are ‘heritage’ varieties) of potatoes being grown in Tasmania such as Nicola and Dutch Cream  have substantially lower GI (glycaemic index) than more traditional varieties.  The purple varieties like Daly Gourmet Purple Gems have high levels of anthocyanins (the same things that give red wine, red cabbage and blueberries their colour), and there is a lot of scientific information about the anti-oxidant and other health benefits of anthocyanins.  Much of the science which has been reviewed about the dietary impact of high levels of potato consumption may not have covered the health effects of consumption of these newer varieties.  The other key point is that consumption of potatoes per se may not be detrimental, perhaps only when potatoes are the only vegetables consumed, which for some people may be the case.  As always: variety is the spice of life.