Eating potatoes four times a week raises risk of high blood pressure: Baked are as bad as chips - but crisps have no effect Baked, boiled, or mashed potatoes raises the risk of high blood pressure
Four or more serving is linked with an 11% rise compared to one portion
Four servings of French fries raises risk by 17% - but crisps have no effect
Experts: May be because potatoes release sugar into the blood quicklyEating potatoes four times a week increases the risk of high blood pressure, experts have found.
Even eating mashed, boiled or baked potatoes is linked to an increased danger, because they are nearly as likely to raise blood pressure as eating chips.
Chips contain far more fat because of the frying process, which raises other health risks.
But the researchers, from Harvard Medical School, think eating any form of potato too often can cause blood pressure problems.
They suspect the starch in potatoes is to blame.
Because potatoes have a high glycaemic index, these starchy carbohydrates rapidly transform into sugars in the body, triggering a sharp rise in blood sugar levels.
Over time, this may cause blood sugar problems, the researchers said.
The experts, whose work was published in the British Medical Journal, analysed data from 187,000 men and women tracked in three large US projects for 20 years.
The results suggest women who eat regularly eat potatoes may be at slightly higher risk of suffering high blood pressure than men.
Overall, however, they found men or women who ate four or more servings a week of baked, boiled, or mashed potatoes had an 11 per cent increased risk of high blood pressure compared to those who ate potatoes less than once a month.
Those who ate chips four or more times a week had a 17 per cent higher risk of high blood pressure.
Replacing one serving a day of potatoes with one serving of non-starchy vegetables led to a 7 per cent drop in the risk of high blood pressure, they found.
But eating crisps had no effect, the experts found.
The team, which also included experts at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, suggested the high glycaemic index of potatoes could be to blame.
High-GI foods release energy more quickly and therefore raise blood sugar more quickly.
They suggested potatoes should not longer be included as ‘vegetables’ when governments issue health advice.
The scientists wrote: ‘These findings have potentially important public health ramifications, as they do not support a potential benefit from the inclusion of potatoes as vegetables in government food programs.
'[They] instead support a harmful effect that is consistent with adverse effects of high carbohydrate intakes seen in controlled feeding studies.’
Not all scientists agree, however.
Writing in an editorial article in the same issue of the BMJ, researchers at the University of New South Wales said focusing on individual foods was less useful than examining overall diet.
They said: ‘We seem to be constantly assailed by media reports of studies and (sometimes conflicting) recommendations about the risk posed by specific dietary foods.
‘This is a major challenge for clinicians, not only in responding to patients’ questions but also in giving advice about what diet to follow to lower the risk of disease.’
Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘This type of study can only show an association, not cause and effect.
‘Although a higher consumption of potatoes, such as mashed potatoes or French Fries, was associated with high blood pressure, it is still possible other factors in the diet or lifestyle are also affecting the results, especially as both the blood pressure and food frequency were self-reported.’
She added: ‘In the UK white potatoes are not included in the five-a-day recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption.
‘Nearly 30 per cent of adults in the UK have high blood pressure so it is key we understand the condition and its causes as much as possible.’
Professor Tom Sanders, of King’s College London, added: ‘Overweight, high intake of salt and alcohol and a low intake of potassium are well-known to increase blood pressure but the effects of individual foods are less certain.
‘Generally, fruit and vegetables are associated with lower blood pressure with the exception of pickled vegetables.
‘However, potatoes, especially chips, are often consumed with added salt which may be part of the explanation for this association with raised blood pressure.
‘I don’t think this study should be used to discourage people from eating potatoes.
‘In the UK, potatoes are more widely consumed than in the USA and make an important contribution to the intake of vitamin C and potassium. The vitamin C and potassium content is best retained when the potatoes are baked or boiled with skins on.’
In January, a separate study found women who eat potatoes may be at increased risk of suffering diabetes in pregnancy.
Those who eat two to four servings of potatoes a week may be around 27 per cent more likely to suffer diabetes in pregnancy, even when taking into account their weight, it said.
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