Featured Post from Aston University

Six reasons why potatoes are good for you

Jun 1, 2021

4 min

Dr Duane Mellor

The humble potato has been given a bad rap. What was once a cheap staple of many countries’ diets has instead been branded in recent years an “unhealthy” food best avoided.



Eating too much of any type or group of food (like carbohydrates) isn’t healthy, and some research suggests eating too many potato products in particular might be associated with higher blood pressure. But it’s typically the way we prepare and consume potatoes (like frying them) that cause negative effects.


In fact, potatoes contain a lot of vitamins and other nutrients that are important for health. Here’s six reasons why potatoes are good for you.


1. Vitamin C

People typically associate vitamin C with oranges and citrus fruit. But an important source of vitamin C in British diets for most of the 20th century actually came from potatoes. On average, a small (150g) potato provides us with about 15% of our daily vitamin C.


Get your news from people who know what they’re talking about.

Vitamin C is important as not only does it support immune function and contain antioxidants, it plays an essential role in forming connective tissue, which helps our joints work – and holds our teeth in place. This is why vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) is linked to teeth falling out.


Read more: How the humble potato fuelled the rise of liberal capitalism – podcast


2. Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 is an essential co-factor (a small molecule) in the body. It helps over 100 enzymes in the body function properly, allowing them to break down proteins – a process key to good nerve function. This may also be why B6 is linked to good mental health.


Typically, a small potato will contain around a quarter of an adult’s recommended daily intake of B6.


3. Potassium

Having potassium in our cells is important for regulating the electrical signalling in muscles and nerves. So, if potassium gets too high or low, it can stop our heart working.


Roast, baked and fried potatoes contain higher levels of potassium than boiled or mashed potatoes, with a jacket potato containing around a third of the recommended daily intake. This is because boiling diced potatoes can cause around half of the potassium to leak out into the water.


However, people with kidney disease – which can limit the ability to remove excess potassium from the body – may need to limit the number of potatoes they eat. And if you do roast or fry your potatoes, be careful how much oil you use.



4. Choline

Choline is a small compound which attaches to fat to make phospholipids, the buildings blocks of cell walls, as well as the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (which helps us contract muscles, dilate blood vessels, and slow heart rate). Potatoes contain the second highest levels of choline, next to protein-rich foods, like meat and soya.


It’s vital to consume enough choline as it’s essential for a healthy brain, nerves, and muscles. And subtle differences in our genes may mean some of us are naturally more deficient in making choline. A jacket potato contains around 10% of a person’s daily choline requirements. Choline is particularly important in pregnancy, as the growing baby is making lots of new cells and organs.


5. Good for our stomach

Cooking and cooling potatoes before eating them allows resistant starch to form. This healthy starch helps our bodies in many ways, including by acting as a prebiotic (which are important for a healthy gut microbiome).



The cooling of fluffy, cooked starches causes them to collapse. While this actually makes them harder to digest, this means that the bacteria in our colon then ferments them, producing compounds similar to vinegar called short-chain fatty acids. These fatty acids nourish our guts and keep it healthy.


Short-chain fatty acids can also alter our metabolism in a good way, helping lower blood fat and blood sugar levels. This – together with their high water and low-fat content – makes boiled and steamed potatoes a low calorie, nutrient dense and filling food.


6. Naturally gluten free

Potatoes are also naturally gluten free, so are a great option for people with coeliac disease or who need to avoid gluten.


The same is true for sweet potatoes, which also have a lower glycaemic index – which means they don’t cause a sharp spike in blood sugar, which may help control weight and appetite. However, sweet potatoes are slightly higher in calories and carbohydrates than regular potatoes – though they contain more beta carotene (a form of vitamin A).


Potatoes on your plate

Some people may choose to avoid potatoes due to concerns about weight gain – but a typical boiled potato is only around 130 calories, which is actually fewer calories than a banana of the same size. But it’s important to remember how potatoes are prepared and what they’re eaten with.


Boiling or steaming (possibly with cooling to increase the resistant starch) is the best way to keep the number of calories per gram low. Baking will increase calories per gram (as water is lost), as can mashing with butter or cream. The least healthy way to eat potatoes is as chips or crisps, as they soak up oil like a sponge.


You’ll also want to avoid green potatoes. This happens when the potato has been stored in light and produces a toxin which can irritate our gut. Otherwise, for most people including potatoes as part of a healthy and varied diet may actually be a good thing.


And alongside being healthy, potatoes also have environmental advantages. They require less water than rice to produce, and less greenhouse gases than both rice and wheat – which may be yet another good reason to include potatoes in your diet.


Originally posted on The Conversation - Six reasons why potatoes are good for you



Connect with:
Dr Duane Mellor

Dr Duane Mellor

Visiting Academic

Dr Mellor is an award-winning dietitian, science communicator, medical educator and researcher.

Food ScienceDieteticsDiabetesObesityNutrition

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from Aston University

3 min

Aston University optometrist develops app with the best easy blinking exercises to improve dry eye symptoms

Dry eye disease is a common condition affecting one-third of the adult population and one-in-five children Professor James Wolffsohn researched the most effective blinking exercises to reduce discomfort, involving a close-squeeze-blink cycle He developed the MyDryEye app in collaboration with Alec Kingsnorth and Mark Nattriss to help sufferers An Aston University optometrist, Professor James Wolffsohn, has determined an optimum blinking exercise routine for people suffering with dry eye disease, and has developed a new app, MyDryEye, to help them complete the routine to ease their symptoms. Dry eye disease is a common condition which affects one-third of the adult population and one-in-five children, in which the eyes either do not make enough tears, or produce only poor-quality tears. It causes the eyes to become uncomfortable, with gritty- or itchy-feeling eyes, watery eyes and short-term blurred vision. It is more common in older adults and can be exacerbated by factors including dry air caused by air conditioning, dust, windy conditions, screen use and incomplete blinks, where the eye does not fully close. Professor Wolffsohn is head of Aston University’s School of Optometry and a specialist in dry eye disease. While it has long been known that blinking exercises can ease the symptoms of dry eye disease, the optimum technique, number of repetitions and necessary repeats per day are unclear. Professor Wolffsohn set out to determine the best exercises. His team found that the best technique for a dry eye blinking exercise is a close-squeeze-blink cycle, repeated 15 times, three times per day. Participants found that while they were doing their exercises symptom severity and frequency decreased, and the number of incomplete blinks decreased. Within two weeks of stopping the exercises, their symptoms returned to normal levels, showing the efficacy of the exercises. To carry out the work, Professor Wolffsohn’s team ran two studies. For the first, they recruited 98 participants, who were assessed for dry eye symptoms before and after the two weeks of blinking exercises. Participants were randomly allocated different blinking exercises to determine the most effective. A second study with 28 people measured the efficacy of the blinking exercise. Once the optimum blinking routine had been developed, Professor Wolffsohn worked withAlec Kingsnorth, an engineer and former Aston undergraduate and PhD student, and Mark Nattriss, business manager of his spin-out company, Wolffsohn Research Ltd, to develop the app, MyDryEye, which is freely available on Android and iOS operating systems. The app allows users to monitor their dry eye symptoms, assess their risk factors, add treatment reminders and monitor their compliance, complete the science-based blink exercises and find a specialist near them. Professor Wolffsohn says that the blinking exercises should be carried out as part of a treatment programme which could also include the use of lipid-based artificial tears, omega-3 supplements and warm compresses. Professor Wolffsohn said: “This research confirmed that blink exercises can be a way of overcoming the bad habit of only partially closing our eyes during a blink, that we develop when using digital devices. The research demonstrated that the most effective way to do the exercises is three times a day, 15 repeats of close, squeeze shut and reopen – just three minutes in total out of your busy lifestyle. To make it easier, we have made our MyDryEye app freely available on iOS and Android so you can choose when you want to be reminded to do the exercises and for this to map your progress and how it affects your symptoms.” Read the full paper, ‘Optimisation of Blinking Exercises for Dry Eye Disease’, in Contact Lens and Anterior Eye at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2025.102453.

2 min

Aston University researchers to take the first steps to find out if AI can help policymakers make urban mobility more sustainable

Researchers to explore how AI can help urban mobility planners They are to investigate AI-driven policy tools’ potential to create greener cities Project to benefit from expertise of five European universities. A European group of researchers led by Aston University is taking the first steps to explore how AI can help urban mobility planners. As city populations grow causing strain on resources, the experts are to investigate AI-driven policy tools’ potential to create greener cities. The team have received £10,000 in funding from the British Academy which they hope will set them on the road to further research. Taking part in the project will be experts from University College London, Ruralis University in Norway, the University of Turin, Italy and Lisbon University Institute, Portugal. Dr Dalila Ribaudo from the Centre for Business Prosperity at Aston Business School and Dr Alina Patelli from the Aston Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Application will co-lead a UK-EU consortium consolidation project. The interdisciplinary project will benefit from expertise in applied business and specialist insight into global economics, policymaking and urban transport planning. Dr Patelli said “Policymakers and society could all benefit from our research into innovative ways of managing the strain on urban infrastructures and resources. "The AI-powered policy tools we are developing are meant to support decision managers at all levels of urban governance with reducing emissions, optimising transportation as well as predicting and preventing environmental hazards. Such changes would improve the quality of life for the millions of people living in towns and cities across the UK, Europe and, in the long term, the entire world.” Following the successful bid for the British Academy pump priming grant the team will apply for Horizon Europe funding to continue developing impactful AI-driven policy tools for greener cities.

3 min

New Aston University spin-out company will develop novel ways to treat non-healing wounds

EVolution Therapeutics (EVo) has been founded on the work of Professor Andrew Devitt into the causes of inflammatory disease A failure to control inflammation in the body, usually a natural defence mechanism, can cause chronic inflammation, such as non-healing wounds Non-healing wounds cost the NHS £5.6bn annually, so there is a vital need for new treatments. Aston University’s Professor Andrew Devitt, Dr Ivana Milic and Dr James Gavin have launched a new spin-out company to develop revolutionary treatments to treat chronic inflammation in patients. One of the most common inflammatory conditions is non-healing wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers, which cost the NHS £5.6bn annually, the same cost as managing obesity. Such wounds are generally just dressed, but clinicians say there is a vital need for active wound treatments, rather than passive management. The spin-out, Evolution Therapeutics (EVo), will aim to create these vital active treatments. Inflammation in the human body helps to fight infection and repair damage following injury and occurs when the immune system floods the area with immune cells. Normally, this inflammation subsides as the damage heals, with the immune system signalling to the immune cells to leave. However, in some cases, the usual healing mechanism is not triggered and the inflammatory response is not turned off, leading to chronic inflammation and so-called inflammatory diseases. EVo is based on Professor Devitt’s work on dying cells in the body, known as apoptotic cells, and how they contribute to health. Dying cells release small, membrane-enclosed fragments called extracellular vesicles (EVs), which alert the immune system to the death of cells, and then trigger the body’s natural repair mechanism and remove the dead cells. It is estimated that 1m cells die every second. Professor Devitt and his team have identified the molecules within the EVs which control the healing process and are engineering new EVs loaded with novel healing enzymes, to drive the body’s repair responses to actively heal wounds. Much of the research has been funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) with additional support from the Dunhill Medical Trust. Professor Devitt, Dr Milic and Dr Gavin received Innovation-to-Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) follow-on funding of £284,000 to develop the vesicle-based therapy with EVo. Most recently, in December 2023, Professor Devitt and Dr Milic were awarded £585,000 from the BBSRC Super Follow-on-Fund to develop engineered cells as a source of membrane vesicles carrying inflammation controlling cargo. The team, together with Professor Paul Topham, also received funding from the National Engineering Biology Programme (£237,000) to support polymer delivery systems for vesicles. EVo is one of the 12 projects being supported by SPARK The Midlands, a network which aims to bridge the gap between medical research discoveries of novel therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics, and real-world clinical use. SPARK The Midlands is hosted at Aston University, supported by the West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator (WMHTIA), and was launched at an event on 31 January 2024. Professor Devitt, EVo chief technical officer, said: “Inflammation is the major driver of almost all disease with a huge contribution to those unwelcome consequences of ageing. We are now at a most exciting time in our science where we can harness all the learning from our research to develop targeted and active therapies for these chronic inflammatory conditions.” Dr Gavin, EVo CEO, said: “The chronic inflammation that results in non-healing wounds are a huge health burden to individuals affecting quality of life as we age but also to the economy. Our approach at EVo is to target the burden of non-healing wounds directly to provide completely novel approaches to wound care treatment. By developing a therapy which actively accelerates wound healing, we hope to drastically improve quality of life for patients, whilst reducing the high cost attached to long term treatment for healthcare systems worldwide.”

View all posts
Powered by