Science embraces potato as sustainable choice during Second Potato Congress

The Second Potato Congress of 16 March drew many dieticians, scientists, weight consultants and representatives from the potato sector. The Potato Congress is organised by the Dutch Potato Organisation, in order to offer an objective stage for knowledge of the potato, focused on food professionals.

According to trend watcher Marjan Ippel, the potato is ‘the new meat’: it’s suited to the modern diet of the younger generations, such as the millennials. Not just as classic potato-vegetable-meat meal, but in international recipes such as curries, shepherd’s pie, baked potato stuffed with vegetables and the hasselback potato. Ippel: “The Potato deserves a much more prominent place on our plates, and should be regarded as a vegetable by dietetics from now on. Potatoes contain the same vitamins and fibres as vegetables, and are considered a vegetable globally, except in the Netherlands.”

Dietician Lisa Steltenpool said the same thing when she pleaded for eating more vegetables. Research shows that vegetarians have less chance of cardio-vascular diseases, the number one cause of death in the Netherlands. She uses legumes as a plant-based source of proteins, wholegrain, and generous portions of fruit, vegetables and potatoes in her vegan pyramid. Steltenpool also classifies potatoes as vegetables.

Hans Blonk from Blonk Consultants developed a programme that calculates the effects of food on the climate. According to Blonk’s calculations, consuming a beefsteak has the most greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of product. Potatoes have a good score, and would therefore remain part of the menu in a climate-friendly diet. 

Professor of diabetology Hanno Pijl does pioneering research for the treatment of type 2 diabetes with a healthy lifestyle. “People with diabetes cannot properly cope with carbohydrates, and they’d best limit these in their diet. How strict that limitation should be, depends on each individual,” according to Pijl. The Glycemic Index isn’t suitable for that in practice, because the rise of blood sugar is decided by many factors, and can differ for each individual.

Prof Dr Ben J.M. Witteman, MDL doctor, pursued the question of irritable bowel syndrome in greater depth, the most common cause of stomach ailments in the Netherlands. The rising FODMAP diet could bring relief for this. Potatoes contain hardly any FODMAPs and are therefore very well suited for this diet.