Cause Of Obesity And Cardiovascular Diseases: It Is Not Just Eating Potatoes But It Is Also The Things People Do Everyday

Nutritionists across the world recommend avoiding potatoes from the diet chart to lose weight or to manage diabetes. Eating plant foods is advised with only one exception of potato. The reason is potatoes are rich in starch, which is nothing but long chains of glucose.

After eating potatoes, the starch is readily digested, and the glucose molecules generated are deposited under the skin. As soon as this happens, the blood glucose levels drop, which triggers the feeling of hunger. This means that potato is a food item that encourages snacking and munching and leads to weight gain and the occurrence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

Walter Willett, who is a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said, "Potatoes don't behave like most other vegetables." He also added that, "In study after study, potatoes do not seem to have the benefit of reducing cardiovascular disease, and they are related to a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes."

However, some experts do not agree with Willett. Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, is one of them. "This is using one particular food or nutrient as a reductive explanation for diseases and problems that are very complicated and have multiple causes. It's nutritionism," Nestle said.

She believes that there are no definitive studies that can differentiate the diet as potato-rich and potato-deprived have been conducted yet. The presently accepted results are based on the questionnaire-based surveys, which are usually conducted among people who either have some diseases or they do not.

Nestle also suggested to test the reliability of the questionnaire used for research by the nutrition experts of Harvard University and found that most of the people cannot pinpoint how many times they do or do not consume a type of food say fruits and vegetables like potato in the past month. These imperfections in the method of research may have significant impact on the results of the studies, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Additionally, experts are also of the opinion that health complications more importantly rely on how the potato is consumed, i.e., deep fried, roasted, baked or boiled. Recently, a report was published on Sci-Tech Today suggested that eating charred potatoes and even burnt toast can lead to the occurrence of cancer. The experts said that over cooking of starchy food leads to the formation of acrylamide, a chemical constituent known to be associated with cancer induction.