Potatoes Could Hold Clue to Weight Management

By Sondra Forsyth

An extract from the humble potato may help limit weight gain from a high-fat diet, according to researchers at McGill University in Montreal.

In the study, the investigators fed mice a high-fat diet for 10 weeks. As a result, mice that weighed an average of 25 grams at the beginning of the study added about 16 grams. But mice that had the same diet but with a potato extract gained only 7 grams.

Researchers said the extract works because it has a high concentration of polyphenols, a beneficial chemical component from fruits and vegetables.

“We were astonished by the results,” said Prof. Luis Agellon, one of the study’s authors. “We thought this can’t be right – in fact, we ran the experiment again using a different batch of extract prepared from potatoes grown in another season, just to be certain.”

“The daily dose of extract comes from 30 potatoes, but of course we don’t advise anyone to eat 30 potatoes a day,” said principal study author Stan Kubow, Associate Professor in the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition and an expert on polyphenols. “That would be an enormous number of calories.”

Instead, the investigators are hoping to eventually make the extract available as a dietary supplement or cooking ingredient.

The findings were published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.