Don: French fries for lunch again, Yaël? You really ought to try eating vegetables now      and then.

Yaël: Potatoes are vegetables, Don!

D: I suppose, but they're just all starch and carbohydrate!

Y: Actually, researchers have now found that many types of potatoes are chock-full of      beneficial nutrients and health-promoting "phytochemicals"

D: Potatoes?!

Y: Yup. The team of researchers used new genetic and chemical analyses to study the      nutritional benefits of one-hundred different varieties of wild and cultivated potatoes.

     So far, the team has identified over sixty different beneficial compounds, in varying      amounts, in the flesh and skin of different strains of potatoes. Among the compounds      identified are vitamin C, folic acid, and phenolics, which are thought to reduce the      risks of certain cancers, high blood pressure and other diseases. Although high      phenolic levels are commonly associated with dark green vegetables, the analysis      found that at least two types of red potatoes have phenolic content rivaling that of      broccoli and spinach.

     Different types of potatoes varied in the content and quantity of different beneficial      compounds. The study found almost a seven-fold difference in levels of folic acid      between different strains of potato.

     The research is exciting because the potato has great potential to increase the amount      of beneficial phytochemicals in the diets of consumers worldwide. Eventually, the      team's potato profiling data could be used to develop new varieties with even higher      nutritional content than those already available. So, soon French fries will be more      healthful!

D: Whoa Yael, you forget that deep fried foods are high in fat and calories! How about      you switch to baked or roasted potatoes. Deal?

Y: Deal!  

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