Is eating potatoes fattening or losing weight?

Potato is another name of potato and a common food. Many people think that potatoes are easy to make people fat, so they are included in the list of fattening foods, and potato products such as French fries are even more daunting for many people. So, is this really the case?

Potatoes (Source: Oriental IC)

People think that potatoes gain weight because they contain a lot of starch, which can be converted into sugar. However, Du, chief nutritionist of Shandong Qianfoshan Hospital, said in an interview with Qilu Evening News that this is actually a misunderstanding of potatoes. The water content of potato is as high as 70%, and the real starch content is only 10%~20%. Compared with wheat flour, eating potatoes with the same unit weight is only half that of rice.

In fact, potatoes are not fattening foods, but also "three good students" with high fiber, high potassium and high vitamin C. According to Health Times:

1. Potato is a low-fat and high-fiber food, and its dietary fiber content is equivalent to that of apple.

2. As we all know, potassium can enhance the elasticity of human blood vessels together with magnesium and calcium. Eating bananas can achieve the purpose of supplementing potassium, but in fact, potatoes have higher potassium content than bananas and are the best food for supplementing potassium.

3. The content of vitamin C in potatoes is also relatively high. 150g of potatoes and 150g of tomatoes can supplement the vitamin C needed by the human body for one day. Even if potatoes are heated, the loss of vitamin C is very small because of the protection of starch.

In addition, potatoes can also be eaten as staple food, with many benefits. Fu, an expert in nutrition and health care of Hainan Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said in an interview with Hainan Daily that potatoes are an excellent staple food in terms of nutritional value. Eating potatoes is conducive to controlling weight gain and preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes. The fiber of potatoes is soft and will not irritate people's stomachs. People with gastric ulcer or enteritis can also eat with confidence. (Zhao Peng)

This paper was scientifically proofread by Ruan, director of the business department of Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center.