Potatoes are so friggin' beaut.
So versatile.
A study of 38 common foods found that when boiled, the humble white potato was the most satiating, calorie for calorie (1).
For some reason over the years though, your bog standard white potat has been shunned by its sweet cousin who has claimed ‘super food’ status.
This isn’t the time for me to rant about the term ‘super food’, so we’ll save that for another day.
So, why the claims? And are sweet potatoes better?
They do contain slightly more fibre, vitamins, and even beta carotene.
BUT
Sweet potatoes are high in FODMAPs (mainly polyols), so can cause gut distress if you have digestive issues (2).
Also, despite being a good source of beta carotene, the conversion of this into active Vitamin A (retinol) can be low depending on your genetics (3)(4), and can even decrease the more you ingest beta carotene (5).
I’m NOT saying sweet potatoes are bad!!!!
My point is that, when it boils (waheeeey) down to it, if you like white potatoes you have white potatoes, and don’t let someone bully you into believing sweet potatoes are highly superior.
1: Holt SH, et al. A satiety index of common foods. Eur J Clin Nutr (1995)
2: Nanayakkara WS, et al. Efficacy of the low FODMAP diet for treating irritable bowel syndrome: the evidence to date. Clin Exp Gastroenterol (2016)
3: Lobo GP, et al. Genetics and diet regulate vitamin A production via the homeobox transcription factor ISX. J Biol Chem (2013)
4: Castenmiller JJ, West CE. Bioavailability and bioconversion of carotenoids. Annu Rev Nutr (1998)
5: Novotny JA, et al. Beta-carotene conversion to vitamin A decreases as the dietary dose increases in humans. J Nutr (2010)