Eating a Favorite Vegetable Can Increase the Risk of Three Serious Diseases

The problems are primarily related to carbohydrate content. Potatoes are a nutrient-rich vegetable that often finds its way onto dinner plates. Despite the versatility and nutritional value of root vegetables, eating them can pose hidden health risks.

The problems are primarily related to the carbohydrate content of vegetables, they contain a lot of carbohydrates that the body digests quickly, causing a spike and then a drop in blood sugar and insulin levels.”

GI is a rating system for foods that contain carbohydrates – it shows how quickly each food affects your blood sugar (glucose) when eaten alone. The faster a food is broken down into blood glucose, the greater its effect on blood sugar levels – which can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Moreover, “the roller coaster-like effect of a high dietary glycemic load can cause people to feel hungry again shortly after eating, which can then lead to overeating,” warns Harvard Health. “In the long term, a diet high in potatoes and similarly fast-digesting foods high in carbohydrates can contribute to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.”

Research shows that weight gain is a particular concern. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine tracked the diets and lifestyles of 120,000 men and women for 20 years.

The researchers were primarily concerned with how small changes in food choices contributed to weight gain over time. They found that people who increased their intake of French fries and baked or mashed potatoes gained more weight over time-an additional 1.5 and 0.5 kg every four years, respectively.

Moreover, people who reduced their intake of these foods gained less weight, as did people who increased their intake of other vegetables. The risk that potatoes pose to the development of the cardiovascular disease may be associated with high blood pressure, a precursor to cardiovascular problems.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School studied more than 187,000 men and women in three large American studies. They compared people who had less than one serving of baked, mashed, or boiled potatoes, chips, or potato chips per month to people who ate four or more servings per week.

They found that the risk of high blood pressure was 11% higher if participants ate four or more servings of baked, mashed, or boiled potatoes per week, and 17% higher risk for French fries (chips) compared to people who had less than one serving per month.

The researchers found no increased risk with higher chip consumption. However, some of the chips in the study were much smaller in weight than other forms of potatoes (28 g of chips compared to 113 g of fries), so it is possible that the smaller amount of potatoes may have influenced the results.

Confirming this association, the study found that replacing a serving of potatoes with a serving of vegetables may reduce the risk of high blood pressure.

However, the study has some limitations. “This type of study can only show an association, not a causal relationship. Therefore, we cannot conclude that potatoes cause high blood pressure, and we cannot explain the cause of the results seen in the study,” said Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation.

“It’s also important to note that this is a study conducted in the US, where dietary guidelines and recommendations are different from those in the UK.”