Potato Lovers, Take Note
If you enjoy potatoes, there’s a mix of good and bad news for you.
It turns out that munching on chips can heighten the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while healthier methods like baking, boiling, or mashing are much better options.
According to research published in the British Medical Journal, eating french fries just three times a week can raise the risk of type 2 diabetes by 20%. If you ramp that up to five times a week, the risk increases by 27%.
Potatoes rank as the third most eaten food crop worldwide, just behind rice and wheat.
In the UK alone, about 5.8 million people have diabetes, and a staggering 90% of them have type 2, which is closely tied to lifestyle choices, diet being a big factor.
The study confirms that while potatoes themselves aren’t inherently harmful, frying them to create chips and consuming them regularly makes it more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
An international research team, led by Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, a public health expert at Harvard, delved into how potato consumption relates to the risk of developing diabetes. They analyzed food questionnaires from 205,000 health professionals in the US, collected every four years from 1984 to 2021.
The findings revealed that those who consume chips three times weekly increase their diabetes risk by 20%. In contrast, people who eat baked, boiled, or mashed potatoes that often face only a 5% risk increase.
The study suggests that the high starch content of potatoes leads to a high glycemic index and load, which, mixed with potential nutrient loss and health risks from cooking methods, can have negative health effects.
On a positive note, trading potatoes for whole grains can lower diabetes risk by 8%. If chips are swapped for whole grains specifically, that risk drops by 19%.
Dr. Kawther Hashem, a public health nutrition lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, emphasized that potatoes can fit into a healthy diet, but preparation matters significantly. Boiled, baked, or mashed varieties are low in fat and provide fiber, vitamin C, and potassium.
However, deep-frying them into chips or fries—especially in large amounts and with extra salt—makes them much less healthy due to their high fat, salt, and calorie content, which can lead to weight gain and increase diabetes risk.
That said, swapping any kind of potatoes for white rice isn’t advisable, as it can heighten the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Hashem further noted, “This research reinforces a straightforward takeaway: enjoy potatoes, but don’t let chips be your main choice. Instead, consider healthier alternatives like whole grains such as brown rice, bulgur wheat, wholemeal pasta, or even sweet potatoes with the skin on, which are better for long-term health.”
It’s important to point out that the researchers made it clear their findings are observational and don’t establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship between chip consumption and diabetes risk.
Neither the Food Standards Agency nor the Department of Health and Social Care offered any comments on the study.
