Potatoes: Nutrition, Cooking Method and Health Research

Table of Contents

1. Nutrient Figures per 100 g
2. The Skin and Where the Nutrients Sit
3. Glycemic Index by Variety and Cooking
4. Resistant Starch After Cooling
5. Cohort Results: Baked, Boiled or Mashed Versus Fries
6. Randomized Feeding Trials
7. Frying Oils and Acrylamide: Measured Data
8. Solanine, Chaconine, Green and Sprouted Potatoes
9. Potassium and Kidney Disease
10. Purple and Other Pigmented Varieties
11. The Andes and the Irish Famine
12. A Cheap Staple: Price and World Production
13. What Is Not Known
14. Key Research Papers
15. Connections
16. Featured Videos

Nutrient Figures per 100 g

The figures below come from four U.S. Department of Agriculture FoodData Central records (SR Legacy): raw, flesh and skin (FDC 170026), baked, flesh and skin, without salt (FDC 170093), boiled in the skin, flesh only, without salt (FDC 170438) and boiled without the skin, flesh only, without salt (FDC 170440). The database has no record for a potato boiled and eaten with its skin. The percent Daily Value uses the adult values in 21 CFR 101.9: potassium 4,700 mg, vitamin C 90 mg, vitamin B6 1.7 mg and fiber 28 g.

U.S. labeling rules in 21 CFR 101.54 treat 20% or more of the Daily Value per serving as "high" and 10 to 19% as a "good source". Per 100 g, the standout is vitamin B6 at 16 to 18% in every form. Potassium and vitamin C sit near 10%, and fiber below that. Raw potato has the most vitamin C, though raw potato is not how people usually eat it.

A potato is eaten as a whole object, so the serving figures read higher. The database gives a medium baked potato as 173 g. By arithmetic from the record above, that is about 161 kcal, 926 mg of potassium (20%), 16.6 mg of vitamin C (18%), 0.54 mg of vitamin B6 (32%) and 3.8 g of fiber (14%).

Cooking moves the numbers in two ways. Baking drives off water, which concentrates what stays. Boiling lets water-soluble nutrients leach out (Robertson 2018), and peeling first makes that worse: flesh boiled in its skin kept 13.0 mg of vitamin C per 100 g, against 7.4 mg when peeled. A laboratory comparison of one cultivar found vitamin C from 43.79 mg per 100 g of dry weight after boiling to 68.83 mg after microwaving, and total phenols from 210.96 mg after boiling to 348.46 mg after grilling (Narwojsz 2020).

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The Skin and Where the Nutrients Sit

The common statement that "all the nutrients are in the skin" is only partly right. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists baked skin (FDC 170034) and baked flesh (FDC 170033) as separate records. Gram for gram, the skin is far richer in fiber and iron. It is also drier, at 47.3 g of water per 100 g against 75.4 g, which raises every figure.

The picture changes when weight is counted, because there is much more flesh than skin. The same records give portions of one skin (58 g) and the flesh of one potato (156 g). By arithmetic from those two records, the skin is about 27% of the weight and holds about two-thirds of the fiber (4.6 g of 6.9 g) and nearly 90% of the iron (4.1 mg of 4.6 mg), but only about a third of the potassium (332 mg of 942 mg) and under a third of the vitamin C (7.8 mg of 27.8 mg). The two records come from separate analyses and do not add up exactly to the combined flesh-and-skin record, so these shares are approximate. The records also say nothing about how much of the iron in the skin the body absorbs.

Plant phenolic compounds follow the skin as well. In Andean potatoes, phenolics and the gene activity that makes them were both higher in skin than in flesh (Valiñas 2017). Total phenolics were consistently highest in the peel in four Lithuanian cultivars (Asakaviciute 2026), and peel powders from four Indian cultivars held more total mineral, fiber and phenolics than flesh powders (Azizi 2020). The natural toxins of the potato sit in the same place, as described in the section on solanine and chaconine.

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Glycemic Index by Variety and Cooking

Glycemic index compares the blood-glucose rise from a food with the rise from pure glucose, set at 100, using a fixed amount of carbohydrate. Values of 55 or below are usually called low and 70 or above high. Potatoes are often described as simply high, but measured values span a wide range, and the same potato can move a long way depending on how it was cooked and served.

Variety, as tested. The British study of 17 healthy adults saw a trend in which waxy potatoes gave medium values and floury potatoes gave high ones (Henry 2005). An Australian study of 10 volunteers tested three varieties and four cooking methods and found no significant difference by either. It did find that larger tubers gave higher values, and its authors concluded that potatoes in general have high values (Soh 1999). A North American study of 12 people found significant differences by variety and cooking method (Fernandes 2005).

Temperature, as tested. The largest single shift in the table is the same boiled red potato at 89 when hot and 56 when cold (Fernandes 2005). In a Swedish study of 13 healthy adults, using white bread as the reference at 100, freshly boiled potatoes scored 168, and cold-stored boiled potatoes with a vinaigrette of 8 g of olive oil and 28 g of white vinegar scored 96. That was 43% lower. Cold storage alone lowered the insulin response by 28% (Leeman 2005). In the North American study, cooking the day before and reheating lowered the glucose response for Russet potatoes but not for boiled white potatoes (Fernandes 2005).

These studies are small, and glycemic index is measured on a potato eaten alone in the morning. People with type 2 diabetes eating potato within a mixed dinner gave a different result, described under feeding trials. The site's Sweet Potato Glycemic Index page sets these figures beside sweet potato.

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Resistant Starch After Cooling

Cooling cooked potato turns part of its starch into a form that resists digestion in the small intestine and passes on to the colon. The High Resistant Starch Foods page compares potatoes with other foods. The potato-specific measurements are these.

• In people with ileostomies fed 300 g of potato, 3% of the starch from freshly cooked potato escaped digestion in the small intestine, against 12% from cooked and cooled potato. Reheating made that starch more digestible again: of all the carbohydrate eaten, 9%, 18% and 14% was recovered from fresh, cooled and reheated potato (Englyst 1987).
• Holding boiled potatoes at 8°C for 24 hours raised resistant starch from 3.3% to 5.2% of the starch (Leeman 2005).
• In Yukon Gold, Dark Red Norland and Russet Burbank potatoes, resistant starch varied by cooking method and serving temperature but not by variety. Baked was higher than boiled, and chilled was higher than either hot or reheated (Raatz 2016).
• A later trial reported about 6 g per 100 g in baked, overnight-chilled Yukon Gold potatoes, working from that earlier analysis (Sanders 2021; figure from the full text).
• A review of foods eaten in the United States concluded that foods cooked then chilled have more resistant starch than foods only cooked (Patterson 2020).
• In one cultivar, microwaving and grilling left more resistant starch than boiling or steaming, and 24 hours at 2°C raised its share further (Narwojsz 2020).

One trial tested chilled whole potatoes over a full day against matched control foods. Nineteen adults with overweight or obesity ate 300 g of chilled potato, about 18 g of resistant starch, over 24 hours. Insulin sensitivity, the main outcome, did not differ. Fasting glucose and free fatty acids after the meal were lower, breath hydrogen was higher, and fullness ratings were lower (Sanders 2021).

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Cohort Results: Baked, Boiled or Mashed Versus Fries

A cohort study follows people for years and compares what they reported eating with what happened to them. Results are given here as hazard ratios: 1.00 means no difference, 1.20 means a 20% higher rate, and 0.88 means a 12% lower rate. The range in brackets is the 95% confidence interval, and a range that crosses 1.00 is not statistically significant. Cohorts show associations, not cause. Each outcome below is given both ways, as the studies came out.

Type 2 diabetes

Results showing a higher rate:

• In three U.S. cohorts of 205,107 people with 22,299 cases, each extra three servings a week of French fries went with 1.20 (1.12 to 1.28), and of total potatoes with 1.05 (1.02 to 1.08). Pooling 13 cohorts and 587,081 people gave 1.16 (1.09 to 1.23) for fried potatoes and 1.03 (1.02 to 1.05) for total potatoes (Mousavi 2025).
• An earlier analysis of the same U.S. cohorts found 1.33 (1.17 to 1.52) for seven or more servings of total potatoes a week against under one. Per three servings a week, it found 1.19 (1.13 to 1.25) for fries and 1.04 (1.01 to 1.08) for baked, boiled or mashed (Muraki 2016).
• Seven U.S. cohorts of 105,531 people found 1.12 (1.03 to 1.22) for fried potatoes more than once a week (Djousse 2024).
• A meta-analysis found 1.16 (1.04 to 1.30) for fried and 1.05 (1.01 to 1.10) for non-fried potatoes, comparing highest with lowest intake (Su 2025). Another, in Western populations, found 1.33 (1.03 to 1.70) for fried and 1.08 (1.00 to 1.16) for baked, boiled or mashed (Guo 2021).
• In 15,632 U.S. women, higher potato intake before pregnancy went with more gestational diabetes (Bao 2016). Pooled high-against-low analyses of that outcome were not significant, at 1.16 (0.86 to 1.57) for total potatoes (Su 2025), while a dose analysis gave 1.22 (1.06 to 1.42) per daily 80 g serving (Guo 2021).

Results showing no difference:

• Baked, boiled or mashed potatoes combined gave 1.01 (0.98 to 1.05) per three servings a week in the 205,107-person analysis (Mousavi 2025), and were not associated in the seven-cohort analysis, where total potatoes at five or more servings a week gave 1.07 (0.99 to 1.16) (Djousse 2024).
• In 2,523 Framingham adults, four or more cup-equivalents a week against under one gave 0.97 (0.81 to 1.15) for diabetes or impaired fasting glucose. Fried potatoes showed no harm here, and in people with higher physical activity went with a 24% lower risk (Yiannakou 2022).
• In 54,793 Danish adults, the top intake group had a 9% higher risk (2% to 16%) that disappeared after accounting for overall dietary pattern (Pokharel 2023).

What replaces the potato changes the estimate. In the U.S. analysis, swapping three servings a week for whole grains went with a lower rate: 19% for fries and 4% for baked, boiled or mashed. Swapping total or baked, boiled or mashed potatoes for white rice went with a higher rate (Mousavi 2025).

Blood pressure

Results showing a higher rate:

• In three U.S. cohorts of 187,453 people, four or more servings a week against under one a month gave 1.17 (1.07 to 1.27) for fries. Baked, boiled or mashed gave 1.11 (0.96 to 1.28; trend P = 0.05), and potato chips 0.97 (0.87 to 1.08) (Borgi 2016).
• Five U.S. cohorts of 67,146 people found 10% more hypertension (4% to 17%) with fried potatoes once or more a week (Djousse 2025).
• In 11,763 Chinese adults, potato eaters had more hypertension than non-eaters, with ratios of 1.40, 1.20 and 1.12 from low to high intake, the last not significant. Among those who ate potatoes at all, higher intake leaned toward lower risk (Huang 2019).

Results showing no difference:

• Total potatoes at five or more servings a week gave 1.04 (0.99 to 1.08), and baked, boiled or mashed were not associated, in the five-cohort analysis (Djousse 2025).
• The Framingham adults gave 0.95 (0.80 to 1.12) (Yiannakou 2022), and a meta-analysis gave 1.07 (0.95 to 1.21) for total and 1.06 (0.97 to 1.15) for non-fried potatoes (Su 2025).

Heart disease

Most results here show no difference:

• In 69,313 Swedish adults over 13 years, each extra three servings a week gave 1.00 (0.97 to 1.02) for major cardiovascular events and 0.99 (0.95 to 1.03) for cardiovascular death, with no trend for boiled potatoes, fried potatoes or fries (Larsson 2016).
• Seven U.S. cohorts of 110,063 people gave 0.96 (0.89 to 1.04) for five or more servings a week. Neither baked, boiled or mashed nor fried potatoes were associated (Djousse 2025).
• A meta-analysis gave 1.00 (0.99 to 1.02) for coronary heart disease, 0.97 (0.91 to 1.03) for cardiovascular disease and 0.97 (0.88 to 1.06) for stroke (Su 2025).

One result shows a lower rate. In 74,750 Japanese adults over 19.2 years, daily potato against none gave 0.82 (0.70 to 0.95) for cardiovascular death in women, including 0.67 (0.48 to 0.96) for coronary heart disease, and 1.01 (0.88 to 1.16) in men (Kimura 2023).

Death from any cause

• Higher: in 4,440 North American adults with 236 deaths, fried potatoes two to three times a week gave 1.95 (1.11 to 3.41) and three or more times gave 2.26 (1.15 to 4.47). Overall potato intake gave 1.11 (0.65 to 1.91), and unfried potatoes showed no increase (Veronese 2017). The number of deaths was small and the ranges are wide.
• Higher: in 3,401 Dutch patients who had already had a heart attack, mostly boiled potatoes gave 1.07 (1.01 to 1.14) per 50 g a day for all-cause death, with no link to cardiovascular death (Cruijsen 2021).
• No difference: in 410,701 U.S. adults with 76,921 deaths, seven or more servings a week gave 1.17 (1.13 to 1.21) adjusted only for age and sex, which fell to 1.02 (0.97 to 1.06) after full adjustment. Fries gave 1.27 (1.02 to 1.59) for cancer death, and the authors could not rule out uncontrolled confounding (Hashemian 2019).
• No difference: pooled analyses gave 0.90 (0.80 to 1.02) (Darooghegi Mofrad 2020) and 1.25 (0.98 to 1.60) (Mazidi 2020). That second report also found higher potato eaters had less favorable waist, blood pressure and blood fat measures.
• Lower: in 77,297 Norwegian adults followed for a median 33.5 years, mostly eating boiled potatoes, 14 or more potatoes a week against six or fewer gave 0.88 (0.84 to 0.93) (Arnesen 2024).

Cancer

A meta-analysis of 20 cohorts and 36 case-control studies found no link between total potato intake and overall cancer, at 1.04 (0.96 to 1.11), or between preparation methods and gastrointestinal, sex-hormone-related or urinary cancers. Certainty of the evidence was rated low or very low (Darooghegi Mofrad 2021).

How to read these together

The drop from 1.17 to 1.02 in the 410,701-person study shows how much of a raw potato signal can come from everything else about the people eating them (Hashemian 2019). Fries often arrive with a particular kind of meal, and no questionnaire separates that cleanly. Mostly boiled potatoes do not give one answer either: the Norwegian cohort showed lower death rates and the Dutch heart-attack patients slightly higher ones, and these are different populations. The lead author of the seven-cohort analyses declared a grant from a potato-industry research group (Djousse 2024; Djousse 2025), and the report on heart disease and blood pressure states that the sponsor had no role in the work. The three-cohort U.S. analysis declares government funding and no such financial ties (Mousavi 2025).

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Randomized Feeding Trials

Trials can test cause, but the ones on potatoes are short and measure markers rather than disease. The longest listed here ran 8 weeks.

• Potato against beans. In 36 adults with insulin resistance on controlled low-energy-density diets for 8 weeks, weight fell 5.6% on the potato diet and 4.1% on the bean diet, with no significant difference. Blood-glucose response met the set test of equivalence, but its fall from baseline was not significant. A measure of insulin resistance fell 1.4 on beans, and 1.3 on potatoes in one of the two analyses (Rebello 2022).
• Potato against refined grains. In 50 healthy adults, one non-fried potato side dish a day for 4 weeks showed no difference from a refined-grain side dish in fasting glucose or any other risk marker. Potassium intake was 547 mg higher, fiber 2.4 g higher and diet-quality score 3.5 points higher (Johnston 2020).
• Potato against basmati rice in type 2 diabetes. In 24 adults, evening meals with boiled, roasted or boiled-then-cooled potato did not differ from basmati rice in glucose after the meal. All three potato meals gave lower overnight glucose than rice. The insulin response was higher after cooled potato (Devlin 2021).
• French fries against almonds. In 180 adults given 300 kcal a day for 30 days, changes in fat mass, glucose, insulin and glycated hemoglobin did not differ. In a small meal test with 5 people per group, glucose and insulin responses were lower after almonds. The authors state the results do not support a causal link between increased fries and the outcomes studied (Smith 2022).
• Potassium and blood pressure, healthy adults. In 35 healthy adults, absorption of potassium from unfried potato and from French fries was high across all treatments, above 94%, and as available as from a potassium gluconate supplement. Blood pressure did not change by source or dose over the 5-day periods (Macdonald-Clarke 2016).
• Potassium and blood pressure, higher pressure. In 30 adults with prehypertension or hypertension and 17-day periods, overall blood-pressure differences were not significant. A contrast analysis showed systolic pressure falling 6.0 points on baked or boiled potato against 2.6 on the control diet (Stone 2021).
• Potato within a rice meal. In 17 healthy young women, cooked potato eaten before a rice meal cut the glucose rise by about 1.0 mmol/L, whether medium or high in glycemic index (Zhao 2020). Swapping a third of the rice carbohydrate for firm, minimally cooked potato lowered glucose and insulin peaks in another acute trial, an effect the authors attributed mainly to retained resistant starch (Wei 2026).

Funding matters when reading these. The full-text funding statements of the refined-grain trial (Johnston 2020), the chilled-potato trial (Sanders 2021) and the prehypertension trial (Stone 2021) name a potato-industry research group, and the first of these says its staff took no part in the study or analysis. The potato-against-beans trial declares no competing financial interests and lists government grants (Rebello 2022). The funding of the others could not be read from the records available for this page.

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Frying Oils and Acrylamide: Measured Data

Frying changes a potato more than any other cooking method. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists restaurant fries in vegetable oil (FDC 170698) at 312 kcal, 14.7 g of fat, 4.7 mg of vitamin C and 210 mg of sodium per 100 g, and frozen fries heated in an oven (FDC 170437) at 161 kcal, 5.13 g of fat, 11.8 mg of vitamin C and 391 mg of sodium. Per 100 g, a baked potato with its skin has 93 kcal, 0.13 g of fat, 9.6 mg of vitamin C and 10 mg of sodium.

Acrylamide

Acrylamide forms when starchy foods brown at high heat. The Acrylamide page covers its chemistry, regulation and toxicology, and notes U.S. Food and Drug Administration findings that frying potatoes made the most, roasting pieces less and baking whole potatoes less again, while boiling and microwaving whole potatoes with the skin made none. Measurements specific to fried potatoes:

• French fries fried at 150 to 190°C for up to 10 minutes held 55 to 2,130 micrograms per kilogram, highest in the longest-fried and brownest (Jackson 2005).
• Seventy potato crisp samples sold in Spain in 2019 averaged 664 micrograms per kilogram (range 89 to 1,930), and 27% were above the European Union benchmark of 750 (Mesias 2020).
• Home-style potato sticks averaged 12.19 micrograms per kilogram from an air fryer, 8.94 from a deep fryer and 7.43 from an oven, differences that were not significant. Soaking lowered levels, significantly so in deep frying (Navruz-Varlı 2023).
• Thin chips fried at 170, 180 and 190°C held 19.6, 39 and 95 nanograms per gram. Baked chips held 47.8, 19.3 and 29.7, so baking was higher at the lowest temperature and lower above it (Palazoğlu 2010).
• Oil type: tests in a closed reactor and in standard French fry preparation found no significant difference between deep-frying oils, though mixtures with no oil at all made less (Mestdagh 2005). Chips fried in fresh sunflower oil held 722 micrograms per kilogram, against 525 in oil oxidized for 12 hours (Karademir 2019). Fries in red palm oil dropped to 524 nanograms per gram by the 10th frying session, the lowest of three oils tested (Kamarudin 2018).

Whether acrylamide in food causes cancer in people is unsettled. One meta-analysis of 14 cohorts found no significant link to breast, endometrial or ovarian cancer (Benisi-Kohansal 2021). Another reported slightly higher ovarian and endometrial cancer risk, particularly among never-smokers (Adani 2020).

What frying does to the oil

Oils rich in polyunsaturated fat, including seed oils such as sunflower, generate more breakdown products under frying heat, and those products end up in the food.

• In restaurant-fried potato servings, aldehydes measured 10 to 25 parts per million for each class monitored. Levels in potatoes fried in sunflower oil at home-style settings rose as frying sessions were repeated. The authors described the concentrations as toxicologically significant (Moumtaz 2019).
• French fries fried in four oils showed more malondialdehyde in sunflower than in canola oil, and more in olive oil than in palm olein (Aduol 2026).
• Fries made in palm olein, canola, olive and sunflower oils reused up to 10 times showed rising oxidation and trans fat in all of them, worse at 190°C than at 150°C. Sunflower and canola lost the most unsaturated fat, olive oil the least, and palm olein gained the most trans fat (Aduol 2025).
• Total polar compounds, a standard measure of oil breakdown, were only slightly lower in the fries than in the frying oil (Li 2017).

These are chemical measurements of food. No study found for this page compared the health of people by the frying oil used, so the cohort findings on fries cannot be assigned to the oil, the acrylamide, the salt, the extra energy or the rest of the meal.

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Solanine, Chaconine, Green and Sprouted Potatoes

Potatoes make two natural toxins, alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine, known together as glycoalkaloids. The figures here come mainly from the 2020 risk assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (Schrenk 2020); the abstract gives the headline dose and the full text the rest. The nightshade pages for tomatoes and bell peppers deal with the separate question of nightshades and joint symptoms.

Where they sit

The assessment states that concentrations are 3 to 10 times higher in peel than in flesh and highest in the outer 1.5 mm. They rise with mechanical damage, blight, sprouting, processing, storage and light. Levels are not reliably lowered by cooking: peeling removed 25 to 75%, on average 48%; boiling or blanching peeled potatoes 5 to 65%; frying peeled potatoes 20 to 90%; oven baking unpeeled potatoes 20 to 50%; and microwaving them 3 to 45%. A bitter or burning sensation in the mouth may accompany poisoning.

Doses

• The European Food Safety Authority set 1 mg of glycoalkaloids per kg of body weight per day as the lowest dose causing harm, based on nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It found no evidence of health problems from long-term intake through potatoes, and no reference point for long-term exposure could be set from animal studies.
• Doses of 3 to 6 mg per kg of body weight are considered potentially lethal, from case reports.
• In a volunteer study, none of six doses up to 1.25 mg per kg caused acute systemic effects, and one person given the top dose, in mashed potato, vomited about 4 hours later. Clearance usually took more than 24 hours, so the authors raised the possibility of build-up with daily eating (Mensinga 2005).
• In other volunteers described in the assessment, six of seven eating mashed potato at 1 mg per kg had symptoms in a study that was not blinded, and all six eating baked potato at 1.75 to 2.58 mg per kg had nausea, vomiting and diarrhea within 2 to 4 hours, according to an unpublished communication.
• The level of 200 mg per kg of raw unpeeled potato has been used as a limit for decades, including in Sweden and Finland; Hungary uses 100 mg per kg. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment advised 100 mg per kg after a 2015 poisoning.

By arithmetic, a 70 kg adult reaches 1 mg per kg with 70 mg of glycoalkaloids, which is 350 g of raw unpeeled potato at 200 mg per kg, or 140 g at 500 mg per kg. A 20 kg child reaches it with 20 mg, or 100 g at 200 mg per kg. The assessment found a health concern for younger age groups in the surveys with the highest average exposure and at high exposure in all surveys, and for adults only in surveys with the highest exposures.

Poisoning reports

• Reviews count more than 10 outbreaks with more than 2,000 people affected and deaths in more than 1% of cases.
• In severe cases, paralysis, breathing failure, heart failure, coma and death have been reported. Drowsiness, confusion, weakness, vision disturbance, a rapid weak pulse and low blood pressure may follow dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea.
• In 1924 in Illinois, seven members of a family ate greened potatoes, and two died.
• In a British family, reported in 1959, baked potatoes with 500 mg per kg caused illness 9 hours later. The person who ate three suffered most, and the person who ate only the flesh had no symptoms.
• Seventy-eight schoolboys became ill after a school lunch, and 17 were admitted to hospital. The suspected potatoes were believed to come from a bag left in storage since the previous term (McMillan 1979).
• In Germany in 2015, a family had vomiting and stomach ache after potatoes with 236 mg per kg that showed no damage, green areas or sprouts. They left a salad from the same batch uneaten because of its bitter taste. A normal appearance did not rule out a high level in this case.
• In a suspected case, an 11-year-old boy who ate raw potato developed heart and circulation complications and was treated in pediatric intensive care. He recovered fully, and the diagnosis rested on history and symptoms (Al Masaoud 2022).

Green does not measure the toxin exactly

Light drives both green chlorophyll and glycoalkaloids, but the two processes are independent. In four cultivars graded for greening, the levels in the flesh stayed within limits presumed safe at every level of greening, and skin held 3.4 to 6.8 times more than flesh. Those authors concluded that rejecting greened tubers because of toxicity is likely unfounded for the cultivars and greening levels they studied (Grunenfelder 2006). The poisoning reports above include greened potatoes, and the same chemistry is measured higher in sprouts and bitter tubers, so the green color is a sign of light exposure, not a measurement of dose in either direction.

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Potassium and Kidney Disease

Healthy kidneys clear extra potassium. When kidney function is reduced, potassium can build up, and high blood potassium predicts hospitalization and death in chronic and end-stage kidney disease (Ceccanti 2022). A review gives the usual management target for people at risk as less than 3 g of dietary potassium a day, against 4.7 g as the adequate intake for healthy adults, and points out that many potassium-rich foods also supply the fiber and alkali that these patients need (Cupisti 2018). By the figures above, a medium baked potato with 926 mg supplies nearly a third of that 3 g.

Cooking changes the load considerably:

• Boiling cubed potatoes lowered potassium by 50% and shredded potatoes by 75%. Soaking without boiling did not significantly lower it. Phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, manganese and iron fell with boiling as well (Bethke 2008).
• Six raw varieties ranged from 295 mg per 100 g (Idaho) to 448.1 mg (purple Viking). Double cooking removed more than single cooking, and all varieties kept more than 200 mg per 100 g with single cooking (Burrowes 2008).
• Boiling started from cold water removed more potassium from potato than other boiling methods tested (Ceccanti 2022).
• Absorption is not a reason to discount the figure: it was above 94% in healthy adults (Macdonald-Clarke 2016).

The link between diet and blood potassium is less direct than these numbers suggest. In a cross-sectional study of 95 people with chronic kidney disease not on dialysis and 117 on hemodialysis, dietary potassium was not associated with blood potassium or high potassium. Diabetes was, in both groups, and so was metabolic acidosis in those not on dialysis (Ramos 2021). That design cannot show what happens when one person eats more of a potassium-rich food. The review singles out people who tend toward high potassium, including those treated with angiotensin-pathway medicines (Cupisti 2018). The Potassium page covers the mineral in general.

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Purple and Other Pigmented Varieties

True potatoes with purple or red flesh carry anthocyanins, and yellow potatoes carry carotenoids. These are not the purple sweet potatoes covered on the Purple vs Orange page, which are a different plant. Polyphenols measured 234, 190, 108 and 82 mg per 100 g of dry weight in purple, red, yellow and white potatoes in one study, and glycemic index fell as polyphenols rose (r = -0.825 across the four types). The individual differences in glycemic index were not significant, and only 9 people took part (Ramdath 2014). The human studies are all small:

• Twelve healthy men per group ate 150 g a day of white, yellow or purple potatoes for 6 weeks. A DNA-damage marker was lower on yellow and purple. Inflammation markers tended lower, without reaching significance (Kaspar 2011).
• Eighteen people with hypertension ate six to eight small microwaved purple potatoes twice a day for 4 weeks, in a crossover against no potatoes. Systolic pressure fell about 5 points and diastolic about 4, with no effect on glucose, blood fats or weight. Fourteen were on blood-pressure drugs. This trial had no comparison potato (Vinson 2012).
• Fourteen healthy adults ate 200 g a day of a purple cultivar with 288 mg of anthocyanins, or a white potato, for 14 days. Arterial stiffness fell on purple, with no change on white and no change in blood pressure or any other measure (Tsang 2018).
• Purple-fleshed potato gave a smaller insulin response than yellow in healthy men (Linderborg 2015). An anthocyanin-rich extract added to yellow potatoes lowered glucose and insulin after the meal in 17 healthy men, in a randomized crossover (Jokioja 2020).
• Fifteen healthy adults aged 50 to 70 ate a purple cultivar with 45 mg of anthocyanins or a comparison potato for 8 weeks. Stress-related complaints improved on purple and stem-cell counts did not change (Maeda-Yamamoto 2022).

No study has followed people eating pigmented potatoes long enough to measure disease.

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The Andes and the Irish Famine

The cultivated potato traces to landraces developed by farmers in the Andes and in Chile. Genetic work points to a single origin from wild relatives in the northern part of their range, in Peru (Spooner 2005). Starch grains on grinding tools from Jiskairumoko, an early village in the Titicaca Basin, date from about 3,400 to 1,600 BC, and 50 of 141 are consistent with cultivated or domesticated potato (Rumold 2016). Potatoes reached Europe in the sixteenth century. DNA from old herbarium samples shows that European plants of 1650 to 1750 were close to Andean landraces and later mixed with Chilean types as they adapted to long summer days (Gutaker 2019).

In Ireland, the Great Famine of 1845 to 1852 began when a blight, Phytophthora infestans, destroyed a crop that was virtually the only food of the poor. DNA from herbarium specimens traced the epidemic to a single strain that persisted for over 50 years (Yoshida 2013). Demographers calculate about 1 million deaths, in addition to deaths among 1.3 million emigrants (Boyle 1986). Skeletons from mass burials in Kilkenny show widespread scurvy, because the potato had been almost the only source of vitamin C for the poor (Geber 2012). Dental evidence from the same workhouse shows maize, potato, cereals, milk and even egg, and its authors describe the famine as foremost a social disaster caused by lack of access to food rather than lack of food availability (Geber 2019).

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A Cheap Staple: Price and World Production

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service vegetable price data lists fresh potatoes at about $0.92 per pound and $0.30 per cup-equivalent. Of the 93 vegetable forms in the current file (updated December 2025), that is the second-lowest price per pound after green cabbage and the sixth-lowest per cup-equivalent, behind only dried beans and fresh cucumbers. Frozen French fries are $2.52 per pound and $1.11 per cup-equivalent, and fresh sweet potatoes $1.16 per pound and $0.58 per cup-equivalent. An earlier analysis of 2008 prices for 98 vegetables found that, among those children ate most often, potatoes and beans were the lowest-cost sources of potassium and fiber (Drewnowski 2013).

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported world production of 325 million tonnes in 2007 in its archived International Year of the Potato figures, when output in developing countries had just passed that of developed countries for the first time. Its more recent figures, as republished by Our World in Data, give about 390 million tonnes in 2024, with about 95 million tonnes in China and 57 million in India.

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What Is Not Known

• No randomized trial has measured diabetes, heart disease or death as an outcome, and none on this page ran beyond 8 weeks. The long-term evidence is entirely observational.
• How much of the signal for fries belongs to the potato, the frying oil, acrylamide, salt, extra energy or the surrounding meal is not known.
• How often potatoes are eaten with the skin. The cohort reports above group potatoes as baked, boiled, mashed or fried, not skin-on or peeled, and the European Food Safety Authority, lacking this information, assumed that 90% are eaten peeled.
• Whether eating potatoes cold over months, as opposed to one meal, changes blood sugar or gut health in people is not established, since the chilled-potato trial lasted 24 hours (Sanders 2021).
• Long-term low-level glycoalkaloid intake: the European Food Safety Authority found no evidence of harm in people and could not identify a long-term reference point. It also stated that there is not enough information to conclude on genotoxicity.
• Whether the small purple-potato results hold in larger and longer trials has not been tested.
• How potatoes in the diet affect blood potassium at each stage of kidney disease has not been tested in any trial found for this page. The study above was cross-sectional (Ramos 2021).

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Key Research Papers

1. Robertson TM, Alzaabi AZ, Robertson MD, Fielding BA. Starchy Carbohydrates in a Healthy Diet: The Role of the Humble Potato. Nutrients. 2018;10(11). PubMed PMID: 30441846
2. Narwojsz A, Borowska EJ, Polak-Śliwińska M, Danowska-Oziewicz M. Effect of Different Methods of Thermal Treatment on Starch and Bioactive Compounds of Potato. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands). 2020;75(2):298-304. PubMed PMID: 32189232
3. Valiñas MA, Lanteri ML, Ten Have A, Andreu AB. Chlorogenic acid, anthocyanin and flavan-3-ol biosynthesis in flesh and skin of Andean potato tubers (Solanum tuberosum subsp. andigena). Food chemistry. 2017;229:837-846. PubMed PMID: 28372251
4. Asakaviciute R, Ruziene N, Jurkeviciute J, Radveikiene I, Kubiliene E. Total Phenolic Content in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Peel and Flesh Across Seed Generations. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). 2026;31(17). PubMed PMID: 42738675
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14. Patterson MA, Maiya M, Stewart ML. Resistant Starch Content in Foods Commonly Consumed in the United States: A Narrative Review. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2020;120(2):230-244. PubMed PMID: 32040399
15. Mousavi SM, Gu X, Imamura F, AlEssa HB, Devinsky O, Sun Q, Hu FB, Manson JE, Rimm EB, Forouhi NG, Willett WC. Total and specific potato intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three US cohort studies and a substitution meta-analysis of prospective cohorts. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). 2025;390:e082121. PubMed PMID: 40769531
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17. Djousse L, Zhou X, Lim J, Kim E, Sesso HD, Lee IM, Buring JE, McClelland RL, Gaziano JM, Steffen LM, Manson JE. Potato Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Harmonized Analysis of 7 Prospective Cohorts. The Journal of nutrition. 2024;154(10):3079-3087. PubMed PMID: 39289134
18. Su Y, Liu X, Jiang B, He H, Li F, Li X, Wang Y, Chen X, Wang X, Luo J, Chen L, Wu J, Hu F, Zhang M, Hu D, Ma J, Qin P. Potato Intake and the Risk of Overweight/Obesity, Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies. Nutrition reviews. 2025;83(3):466-478. PubMed PMID: 39527022
19. Guo F, Zhang Q, Jiang H, He Y, Li M, Ran J, Lin J, Tian L, Ma L. Dietary potato intake and risks of type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes mellitus. Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland). 2021;40(6):3754-3764. PubMed PMID: 34130021
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21. Yiannakou I, Pickering RT, Yuan M, Singer MR, Moore LL. Potato consumption is not associated with cardiometabolic health outcomes in Framingham Offspring Study adults. Journal of nutritional science. 2022;11:e73. PubMed PMID: 36117546
22. Pokharel P, Kyrø C, Olsen A, Tjønneland A, Murray K, Blekkenhorst LC, Bondonno CP, Hodgson JM, Bondonno NP. Vegetable, but Not Potato, Intake Is Associated With a Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health Cohort. Diabetes care. 2023;46(2):286-296. PubMed PMID: 36463930
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26. Larsson SC, Wolk A. Potato consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease: 2 prospective cohort studies. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2016;104(5):1245-1252. PubMed PMID: 27680993
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28. Veronese N, Stubbs B, Noale M, Solmi M, Vaona A, Demurtas J, Nicetto D, Crepaldi G, Schofield P, Koyanagi A, Maggi S, Fontana L. Fried potato consumption is associated with elevated mortality: an 8-y longitudinal cohort study. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2017;106(1):162-167. PubMed PMID: 28592612
29. Cruijsen E, Indyk IM, Simon AWE, Busstra MC, Geleijnse JM. Potato Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Mortality and Type 2 Diabetes After Myocardial Infarction: A Prospective Analysis in the Alpha Omega Cohort. Frontiers in nutrition. 2021;8:813851. PubMed PMID: 35155529
30. Hashemian M, Murphy G, Etemadi A, Liao LM, Dawsey SM, Malekzadeh R, Abnet CC. Potato consumption and the risk of overall and cause specific mortality in the NIH-AARP study. PloS one. 2019;14(5):e0216348. PubMed PMID: 31063480
31. Darooghegi Mofrad M, Milajerdi A, Sheikhi A, Azadbakht L. Potato consumption and risk of all cause, cancer and cardiovascular mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition. 2020;60(7):1063-1076. PubMed PMID: 30638040
32. Mazidi M, Katsiki N, Mikhailidis DP, Pella D, Banach M. Potato consumption is associated with total and cause-specific mortality: a population-based cohort study and pooling of prospective studies with 98,569 participants. Archives of medical science : AMS. 2020;16(2):260-272. PubMed PMID: 32190135
33. Arnesen EK, Laake I, Carlsen MH, Veierød MB, Retterstøl K. Potato Consumption and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality - A Long-Term Follow-Up of a Norwegian Cohort. The Journal of nutrition. 2024;154(7):2226-2235. PubMed PMID: 38763265
34. Darooghegi Mofrad M, Mozaffari H, Askari MR, Amini MR, Jafari A, Surkan PJ, Azadbakht L. Potato Consumption and Risk of Site-Specific Cancers in Adults: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.). 2021;12(5):1705-1722. PubMed PMID: 33861304
35. Rebello CJ, Beyl RA, Greenway FL, Atteberry KC, Hoddy KK, Kirwan JP. Low-Energy Dense Potato- and Bean-Based Diets Reduce Body Weight and Insulin Resistance: A Randomized, Feeding, Equivalence Trial. Journal of medicinal food. 2022;25(12):1155-1163. PubMed PMID: 36367708
36. Johnston EA, Petersen KS, Kris-Etherton PM. Daily intake of non-fried potato does not affect markers of glycaemia and is associated with better diet quality compared with refined grains: a randomised, crossover study in healthy adults. The British journal of nutrition. 2020;123(9):1032-1042. PubMed PMID: 31964428
37. Devlin BL, Parr EB, Radford BE, Hawley JA. Lower nocturnal blood glucose response to a potato-based mixed evening meal compared to rice in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland). 2021;40(4):2200-2209. PubMed PMID: 33069511
38. Smith DL, Hanson RL, Dickinson SL, Chen X, Goss AM, Cleek JB, Garvey WT, Allison DB. French-fried potato consumption and energy balance: a randomized controlled trial. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2022;115(6):1626-1636. PubMed PMID: 35179193
39. Macdonald-Clarke CJ, Martin BR, McCabe LD, McCabe GP, Lachcik PJ, Wastney M, Weaver CM. Bioavailability of potassium from potatoes and potassium gluconate: a randomized dose response trial. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2016;104(2):346-53. PubMed PMID: 27413123
40. Stone MS, Martin BR, Weaver CM. Short-Term RCT of Increased Dietary Potassium from Potato or Potassium Gluconate: Effect on Blood Pressure, Microcirculation, and Potassium and Sodium Retention in Pre-Hypertensive-to-Hypertensive Adults. Nutrients. 2021;13(5). PubMed PMID: 34064968
41. Zhao W, Zhou Y, Yuan Y, Fan Z, Wu Y, Liu A, Lu X. Potato Preload Mitigated Postprandial Glycemic Excursion in Healthy Subjects: An Acute Randomized Trial. Nutrients. 2020;12(9). PubMed PMID: 32927753
42. Wei J, Fan Z, Deng Y, Pan K, Shi R, Hu J, Liu B. Minimally Cooked Potato Improved Glycemic Response Across Two Meals and Insulin Sensitivity of Rice-Potato Mixed Meals: A Randomized Controlled Acute Trial. Nutrients. 2026;18(6). PubMed PMID: 41901148
43. Jackson LS, Al-Taher F. Effects of consumer food preparation on acrylamide formation. Advances in experimental medicine and biology. 2005;561:447-65. PubMed PMID: 16438318
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45. Navruz-Varlı S, Mortaş H. Acrylamide formation in air-fried versus deep and oven-fried potatoes. Frontiers in nutrition. 2023;10:1297069. PubMed PMID: 38274202
46. Palazoğlu TK, Savran D, Gökmen V. Effect of cooking method (baking compared with frying) on acrylamide level of potato chips. Journal of food science. 2010;75(1):E25-9. PubMed PMID: 20492162
47. Mestdagh FJ, De Meulenaer B, Van Poucke C, Detavernier C, Cromphout C, Van Peteghem C. Influence of oil type on the amounts of acrylamide generated in a model system and in French fries. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry. 2005;53(15):6170-4. PubMed PMID: 16029013
48. Karademir Y, Gökmen V, Öztop HM. Investigation of lipid-derived formation of decadien-1-amine, 2-pentylpyridine, and acrylamide in potato chips fried in repeatedly used sunflower oil. Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.). 2019;121:919-925. PubMed PMID: 31108826
49. Kamarudin SA, Jinap S, Sukor R, Foo SP, Sanny M. Effect of Fat-Soluble Anti-oxidants in Vegetable Oils on Acrylamide Concentrations During Deep-Fat Frying of French Fries. The Malaysian journal of medical sciences : MJMS. 2018;25(5):128-139. PubMed PMID: 30914869
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52. Moumtaz S, Percival BC, Parmar D, Grootveld KL, Jansson P, Grootveld M. Toxic aldehyde generation in and food uptake from culinary oils during frying practices: peroxidative resistance of a monounsaturate-rich algae oil. Scientific reports. 2019;9(1):4125. PubMed PMID: 30858398
53. Aduol KO, Onyango AN, Mokua BNK, Okoth JK, Ayua EO. Formation of Conjugated Polyenes, Malondialdehyde and Methylglyoxal in French Fries Produced with Four Different Types of Oils. Journal of oleo science. 2026;75(7):755-774. PubMed PMID: 42386554
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56. Schrenk D, Bignami M, Bodin L, Chipman JK, Del Mazo J, Hogstrand C, Hoogenboom LR, Leblanc JC, Nebbia CS, Nielsen E, Ntzani E, Petersen A, Sand S, Schwerdtle T, Vleminckx C, Wallace H, Brimer L, Cottrill B, Dusemund B, Mulder P, Vollmer G, Binaglia M, Ramos Bordajandi L, Riolo F, Roldán-Torres R, Grasl-Kraupp B. Risk assessment of glycoalkaloids in feed and food, in particular in potatoes and potato-derived products. EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority. 2020;18(8):e06222. PubMed PMID: 32788943
57. Mensinga TT, Sips AJ, Rompelberg CJ, van Twillert K, Meulenbelt J, van den Top HJ, van Egmond HP. Potato glycoalkaloids and adverse effects in humans: an ascending dose study. Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology : RTP. 2005;41(1):66-72. PubMed PMID: 15649828
58. McMillan M, Thompson JC. An outbreak of suspected solanine poisoning in schoolboys: Examinations of criteria of solanine poisoning. The Quarterly journal of medicine. 1979;48(190):227-43. PubMed PMID: 504549
59. Al Masaoud FS, Alharbi A, Behir MM, Siddiqui AF, Al-Murayeh LM, Al Dail A, Siddiqui R. A challenging case of suspected solanine toxicity in an eleven-year-old Saudi boy. Journal of family medicine and primary care. 2022;11(7):4039-4041. PubMed PMID: 36387661
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PubMed Topic Searches

1. PubMed: potato consumption and type 2 diabetes cohorts
2. PubMed: potato intake, hypertension and cardiovascular disease
3. PubMed: potato feeding trials and glucose
4. PubMed: potato glycemic index by cooking and variety
5. PubMed: resistant starch in cooled potatoes
6. PubMed: potato glycoalkaloids and solanine poisoning
7. PubMed: acrylamide, French fries and frying oil
8. PubMed: potato potassium, boiling and kidney disease
9. PubMed: purple potatoes in human trials

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Connections

• Vegetables — the parent category
• Sweet Potatoes — the unrelated root often compared with potatoes
• Sweet Potato Glycemic Index — the same measure, side by side
• The Potato Diet for Weight Loss — satiety and the fad diets
• High Resistant Starch Foods — cooling and starch across many foods
• Acrylamide — the browning chemical in fried potatoes
• Nightshades Considerations — the wider nightshade family
• Potassium — the mineral potatoes are best known for
• Vitamin B6 — the strongest nutrient per 100 g

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