Potatoes are easily the most unconditionally-loved vegetable, and millennials have shown it insurmountable amounts of love and appreciation. But unfortunately, the tuber has also received its share of flak for causing weight gain and even diabetes, and has been branded unhealthy.
It's almost unfair how we have been advised to avoid eating too many of them, but a recent study has been able to put a huge full-stop to potato-shaming, as its findings suggest that the base of french fries and delicious mash is actually good for you.
Also read: 6 'guilty pleasure' food that items are actually healthy
This just in! You can now eat potatoes and nothing else for the rest of your life and still "remain perfectly healthy"! And these scientists who reviewed multiple studies are even advocating for the beloved tuber to be "reassessed for their 'clear' health benefits", Daily Mail Online reported.
The recently-discovered evidence states that potatoes can actually reduce the risk of heart attacks and could also protect one against dementia. Professor Derek Stewart, from the James Hutton Institute in Scotland, said: "The studies we looked at found a whole raft of different benefits.
"If you have to live the rest of your life on just one thing, you could do it on potatoes and remain pretty healthy. There are not many crops you can say that about.
"Potatoes are a great source of loads of vitamins and macro and micro minerals, which many people spend money buying supplements for. There are also non-nutrients like carotenoids and polyphenols [powerful compounds]. They're pretty good for dietary fiber too."
Stewart added: "Epidemiology studies have been carried out on huge populations, looking at potatoes and cardiovascular disease. And what came up there was replacing meat in the diet with vegetables and potatoes are linked with a lower risk of heart attack. Other research has found a strong association with enhanced cognitive function in the elderly if they're eating potatoes."
It is a decline in these cognitive functions that can lead to dementia. The expected rise in the number of dementia victims in the years to come is what makes this finding even more significant.
Writing in the 60-page report, they also mentioned that potatoes are responsible for stopping the downward spiral of "a plethora of degenerative diseases".
At the same time, researchers also warned that people should avoid eating too many french fries mostly because of the obesity risks, which results from the process of cooking. But potatoes' satiety index, compared to foods with equal carbohydrate content, was also mentioned in the report.
The report was commissioned by the UK's Agricultural and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) — an organization funded by farmers and growers.
