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.

ΓÇ£We were astonished by the results,ΓÇ¥ said Prof. Luis Agellon, one of the studyΓÇÖs authors. ΓÇ£We thought this canΓÇÖt be right ΓÇô in fact, we ran the experiment again using a different batch of extract prepared from potatoes grown in another season, just to be certain.ΓÇ¥

ΓÇ£The daily dose of extract comes from 30 potatoes, but of course we donΓÇÖt advise anyone to eat 30 potatoes a day,ΓÇ¥ said principal study author Stan Kubow, Associate Professor in the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition and an expert on polyphenols. ΓÇ£That would be an enormous number of calories.ΓÇ¥

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.