Scientists have recognized potatoes as a dietary product that helps to lose weight

Potatoes are not as scary as they are painted. The respected scientific journal Journal of Medicinal Food published an article that refutes the usual ideas about tasty, but not quite healthy food. According to researchers from the Pennington Center for Biomedical Research at Louisiana State University, regular consumption of the root vegetable, beloved by Russians, not only does not lead to weight gain, but even contributes to weight loss. Moreover, it reduces insulin resistance, which is especially important for patients with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. “MK” learned the details of the study and what our experts think about it.

Until now, it was believed that if you want to lose weight, it is better to give up potatoes – they only get fat from it. But it turned out that this is not the case at all. What was established by the world’s first randomized study that studies the effect of potatoes as part of the daily diet on metabolic parameters in a controlled diet.

Scientists note that there is very little fat in the potato, plus it has a low energy density. Although potatoes are generally considered a high glycemic index food, cooling them produces a significant amount of slowly digesting starch, which leads to lower blood glucose levels. And yet, until now, a huge number of epidemiological studies have classified potatoes as not the most useful plant food and have associated their consumption with weight gain and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

But legumes, on the contrary, are strongly recommended both for diets and for reducing insulin resistance. They also contain resistant starch, which improves insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines and scientific literature clearly support increased consumption of legumes. Dozens of studies have proven that legumes, as part of a low glycemic index diet, improve blood glucose control.

For 8 weeks, scientists followed a group of 36 people aged 18 to 60 with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 40 (that is, overweight and obese), a waist circumference of more than 88 cm (if women) and 102 cm (if men) and a history of insulin resistance (which almost always accompanies obesity). Some of them followed a potato diet (high in white potatoes), the rest – legumes (high in peas and beans). Each of them was, respectively, 50-55% carbohydrates, 30-35% fats, 15-20% proteins). People’s nutrition was closely monitored, so everything was fair. Well, or almost – people followed diets by 87-88%.

For each meal for lunch and dinner, participants in the first group, selected at random, were served a side dish of potatoes. To improve resistance to starch and dietary fiber components, potatoes were boiled with skin on and refrigerated for 12-24 hours before being included in meals. The participants of the second group included legumes in the main dishes. The macronutrient composition, dietary fiber content, and energy density of the two meal plans were close to each other.

Surprising but true: on both diets, people lost weight! Moreover, on potatoes even more than on legumes – by 5.6% compared to 4.1% compared to the initial body weight. The researchers call this effect “significant” and emphasize that weight loss in response to treatment was significantly greater in the potato diet compared to the bean diet. It is especially emphasized that all participants in the study were full and did not feel hungry.

In addition, the researchers concluded that the potato and bean diets, while not lowering the participants’ blood glucose levels, were equally effective in improving insulin resistance scores in people with impaired blood glucose control. As evidenced by a significant decrease in a blood test called HOMA-IR, which assesses the level of glucose resistance.

In addition, as a result, the participants in the study also changed the indicators of total cholesterol, as well as its fractions. The bean diet led to a significant reduction in total cholesterol from baseline. But with potato, the particle size of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in the blood serum, as well as their concentration, decreased. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) and total particle concentrations were reduced in both diets. “The reduction in LDL particle size and serum HDL concentration is consistent with other healthy eating patterns such as the DASH diet,” the researchers note. Note that the DASH diet is today considered one of the most useful in the world and is recommended for all people with cardiovascular diseases.

Therefore, scientists argue: diets based on potatoes and beans reduce body weight and insulin resistance. What’s the secret? “According to the researchers, the same potato is a product with a large volume, but relatively low calorie content, so people fill up quickly due to stuffing their stomachs and do not overeat. They also noted that people usually don’t like monotonous food, and potatoes can be cooked in a bunch of ways, says well-known therapist Alexei Vodovozov on his social network.

He suggests doing other studies comparing diets based on boiled potatoes, baby jacket potatoes, french fries, mashed potatoes, and the like. “Something tells me that you can lose weight at best on the first two courses, and there are questions about the rest,” he writes.

However, as MK said nutritionist, professor of the Department of Faculty Therapy of the Russian National Research Medical University. Pirogova Alfred Bogdanov On a potato diet, it’s quite possible to lose weight:

– There are no hard contraindications to potatoes for people who plan to lose weight. But there is an attitude to this root crop as a source of starch and as a product with a high glycemic index. And it is not the quantity that matters, but the frequency of its consumption. If you have a potato dish in your daily diet, it will not bring any harm other than good. After all, these are not only simple, but also complex carbohydrates, a source of energy, protection of muscle mass. But when eating potatoes in the evening, problems may arise …

– However, study participants ate potato dishes twice a day – at lunch and dinner.

– If for dinner, it is difficult to comment on the results of the study. The traditional view is that foods with a high and medium glycemic index in the evening cause background hyperglycemia at night, and this is the basis for the development of obesity. If a person sleeps little, he has interrupted sleep – this is the risk of developing obesity, the same applies to a high evening glycemic load. High levels of glucose in the blood will not give the opportunity to break down fats at night. After all, it is at night that we burn the fats gained during the day. When they are not burned, it means that either the glucose level is high, or sleep is disturbed, or short sleep, or you eat something at night.

– In the study, potatoes were pre-treated to lower the glycemic index, maybe this is the secret?

– One study cannot be a good basis for drawing far-reaching conclusions, because you can find a dozen studies that say otherwise. Therefore, there is no reason to burst potatoes at night. And I think that the index of insulin resistance in the study participants did not decrease because of the consumption of potatoes, but because they lost weight. Therefore, the results of this work should be treated with caution. The study participants could lose weight simply due to the fact that the calorie content of their diet during the experiment decreased compared to the usual one. The same effect can be achieved by reducing the calorie content of the diet from any product. And the properties of potatoes are known and proven long ago.