Eating baked potatoes can help reduce waistline and lower blood sugar levels in diabetics.
- In a recent study, American researchers highlighted the cardiovascular benefits of potatoes for diabetics.
- When patients ate baked potatoes for 12 weeks, their fasting blood sugar levels, waist circumference and resting heart rate decreased.
- This food can be incorporated “in a healthful way into the diet of people with type 2 diabetes when it replaces other foods with a high glycemic load, such as long-grain white rice.”
Potatoes are packed with health-promoting nutrients. For example, they are high in potassium, which helps prevent high blood pressure. As for their skin, they contain a type of fiber called “resistance starch,” which has been shown to improve glucose control, lipid profiles, and satiety. Yet this food often gets a bad rap among dieters.
Eat a baked potato or white rice
In a new studyresearchers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA, challenged long-held beliefs about potatoes and their place in a healthy diet. For the study, they recruited 24 people with type 2 diabetes who were well-controlled by medication. Participants each ate a pre-prepared baked potato, with a skin that was rated at 100g and contained only 20 grams of carbohydrates. The control group ate a similar portion of cooked white rice with the same number of calories and carbohydrates. Volunteers were allowed to add herbs or spices to their potatoes, or up to 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter.
The intervention took place daily for 12 weeks, as this is the minimum duration needed to observe changes in indices of glycemic control and cardiometabolic health. “Measurements of blood pressure, vascular function, blood draws and anthropometric assessments, body composition, diet and physical activity will be repeated at the 6- and 12-week visits for both intervention periods, with a 2-week washout period between each intervention period,” can be read in the research.
Diabetes: Reduced blood sugar and waistline thanks to baked potatoes
The results showed that adults who ate the baked potatoes had modest reductions in their fasting blood sugar levels. They also had improvements in body composition, reduced waist circumference and decreased resting heart rate. No adverse effects on any of the health outcomes measured were observed, the authors said.
So, this data “prove that potatoes can be healthily incorporated into the diet of people with type 2 diabetes when replacing other high-glycemic load foods, such as long-grain white rice”said Neda Akhavanlead author of the study, before adding that, as with all foods, moderation and preparation methods are essential.
“For those who are short on time, consider making a large batch of baked or roasted potatoes and making meals that will last you a while. I’m not against boiling potatoes, but you want to retain as much potassium as possible in the skin, and you lose some of that when you boil them,” continued the researcher.
