Are potatoes linked to high blood pressure?

Researchers based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the US decided to look at whether higher long-term intake of potatoes could be associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure (hypertension). To their knowledge, no one has previously examined a link between potatoes and high blood pressure. The researchers found: When compared with less than one serving a month, consuming four or more servings a week of baked, boiled or mashed potatoes could be linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure in women, but not in men; higher consumption of potato chips (fries) could be linked to an increase risk of high blood pressure in both men and women; potato crisps could not be linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure in either men or women. Professor Mark Harris from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and Dr Rachel Laws from Deakin University in Melbourne, warn that “there is a broader problem with exploring associations between risk of disease and intake of single nutrients or foods” that do not consider overall dietary patterns. More