Is eating potatoes dangerous and does it increase the risk of diabetes? A recent study from May 2021 had already shown that the potato did not deserve its bad reputation and was a real remedy for hypertension. Another even assured that it would be a miracle food for weight loss.
Diabetes: the potato is not a danger
It is now an Australian study published on December 5 in the journal Diabetes Care which contradicts the alleged harmful effects of the potato on diabetes. While it is often advised type 2 diabetics to avoid eating potatoes due to their high glycemic index, a new study comes question this frequent dietary instruction.
The study conducted by Dr Nicola Bondonno, from the Edith Cowan University Research Institute, Australia, found that people who ate the most vegetables were 21% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who consumed the least, but also that the consumption of potatoes did not increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The researchers assure that the potato remains a healthy food option, provided that it is be well prepared.
Potato: the preparation and the accompaniments in question
In effect, Health issues associated with potatoes may actually be due to how people prepare them and what they eat them with. The researchers assure that “the people who consume the most potatoes are also high consumers of butter, red meat and soft drinks, a diet strongly associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes“.
To reach these conclusions, more than 54,000 people reported their food intake in the Danish long-term study “Diet, Cancer and Health”. Pratik Pokharel, from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen, and colleagues looked at the associations between exposure to vegetables and potatoes and the impact of this diet on type 2 diabetes. A total of 7,695 cases of type 2 diabetes were recorded during a median follow-up of 16.3 years among the 54,000 people studied.
Type 2 diabetes: eating vegetables reduces the risk by 21%
The researchers found following multivariable multivariate adjustment that people with the lowest total vegetable intake (median, 67 g of vegetables per day), had a higher mortality rate than those who consumed the most (319 g / day ). The people consuming the most vegetables also had a 21% lower risk of type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, if the consumption of potatoes had no positive influence on the risk of type 2 diabetes, he did not increase it either. Potato consumption is not positively related to the incidence of type 2 diabetes.
“The finding that vegetables reduce the risk of diabetes is crucial for public health recommendations, and we should not ignore it,” Pokharel, who carried out the analysis, said in a statement. “About e potatoes, we can’t say they have any type 2 diabetes benefit, but they’re not bad either if they are prepared in a healthy way,” he concludes.