The USDA wants to limit potatoes in school lunch to make room for vegetables like broccoli--a good plan: Potatoes have an effect on blood sugar similar to that of a can of soda, and in large amounts, raise obesity and diabetes risks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has come under fire from politicians and potato lobbyists over its proposal to cut back on French fries and potatoes in school lunch and offer broccoli and other vegetables instead. Yet its plan to cap the amount of potatoes and other starchy vegetables that school lunch can serve at one cup per week--the equivalent of a medium baked potato--and promote a wider variety of vegetables is based on sound science--and could help turn around this country's obesity and diabetes epidemics.
U.S. children, on average, only eat about 40 percent of the government's daily recommended vegetable intake--and 29 percent of that comes from potatoes, most of them fried.
Potatoes don't count as a vegetable on Harvard's new Healthy Eating Plate, and with good reason: They are very high in carbohydrates--in particular, the kind of carbohydrate that the body digests rapidly, causing blood sugar and insulin to surge and then dip. The scientific term for this is that they have a high glycemic load.
Potatoes do contain important nutrients--vitamin C, potassium, and vitamin B6, to name a few. But the potato is not the only source of these nutrients, nor is it the best: Cup for cup, for example, broccoli has nearly nine times as much vitamin C as a potato, and white beans have about double the potassium. Yet a cup of potatoes effects blood sugar in much the same way as a can of Coca Cola or a handful of jelly beans. That's a high metabolic price to pay for nutrients that children can easily get from other sources.
Potatoes seem to be a particular culprit for weight gain and diabetes. A recent study from Harvard School of Public Health that tracked the diet and lifestyle habits of 120,000 men and women for up to 20 years looked at how small food-choice changes contributed to weight gain over time. People who increased their consumption of french fries gained an extra 3.4 pounds every four years and those who ate more baked or mashed potatoes gained 1.3 pounds. People who decreased their intake of these foods gained less weight, as did people who increased their intake of other vegetables.
For people who are lean and active, potatoes likely don't exact such a severe metabolic toll. But one out of three children and two out of three adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, and many do not get enough daily physical activity. That's all the more reason to use potatoes sparingly in our meals, if at all.
Själv försöker jag ersätta
Försiktighet med pärer, det är inte så dumt det.
