Straight Dope on Medicine: Potato

Author

Scott Ganser
March 27, 2023

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), also known as Irish or white potato, is a crop of world importance that produces tubers of high nutritional quality. It is considered one of the promising crops to overcome the challenges of poverty and hunger worldwide. However, it is exposed to different biotic and abiotic stresses that can cause significant losses in production.[i]

Thus, potato is a candidate of special relevance for improvements through conventional breeding and biotechnology.

It is the fourth most important staple crop (after wheat, corn, and rice) in terms of production and demand, with around 378 million tons produced annually (Campos and Ortiz, 2020).  The tuber, which serves the plant as a storage organ and as a vegetative propagation system, is an excellent source of complex carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins (Banerjee et al., 2006; Barrell et al., 2013).

In addition, potato is largely used in industry to make processed food products, alcohol, animal feed, and for bioenergy production substrates like biofuel (Ahmed et al., 2018). Moreover, given the physicochemical properties of refined starch it is used as a thickening and stabilizing agent in food, and as a raw material in paper, textile, cosmetic, adhesive, and plastics industries (Craze et al., 2018).

Potato is cultivated in practically all types of soil, except for saline and alkaline soils.[ii] Although it originated from Peru, the potato is grown and consumed in more than 100 countries of the world. The global production of potatoes has increased from 328.62 Million Metric Tons (MMT) in 2010 to 361.09 MMT in 2013 and further to 370.43 MMT in 2019.[iii]

The tubers were cultivated in the rustic slopes of Andean Mountain and surrounding zones of Titicaca Lake (The highest lake in the world located on the border between Peru and Bolivia) for more than 7,000 years ago.[iv] If you didn’t know the wild tubers (such as potatoes) are poisonous and the ancient Peruvians took a long time to domesticate them.

The first Spanish conquerors who returned to Europe from America brought with them the potato in the 1500s, this fledgling starchy tuber from the new world, once poisonous, but not now. The disbelief, rejection, and resistance to consuming it lasted around two centuries. However, the crisis of food, the expansionist desires of the Europe countries, and their concern to feed their armies, made the potato be accepted at a general level for the first time.


NUTRITION AND BENEFITS

Though it is well known that Peruvian potatoes have high levels of calories, such as carbohydrates with high glycemic indexes, responsible to increase the sugar in the body, its periodic consumption in a varied diet and well accompanied by fresh vegetables and fish can result in more beneficial than harmful to health.

Carbohydrates, vitamin C, vitamin B6, fiber, potassium, magnesium, iron, and antioxidants are the most important nutrients that you can find in a portion of Potato. Even, high levels of copper which help with collagen formation can be found, too. Also, some studies affirm that a variety of purple skin potatoes are rich in antioxidants.

Who eats the most potatoes?

It isn’t who you think.

The Irish aren’t even in the top 10.

Potato Art

CONSIDER THE HUMBLE POTATO. Linguistically, it’s often used to denigrate. Unimportant things are “small potatoes,” and we all try not to be “couch potatoes.” Nearly alone among vegetables, its nutritional value is questioned, making mashed potatoes and french fries something of a guilty pleasure.

But to artist and professor Jeffrey Allen Price, potatoes transcend their homely image. In fact, he might be the potato’s number one hype man. Price is the proud owner of 5,000 pieces of potato ephemera, from toys to books to snacks. He collects on behalf of his Think Potato Institute, which encompasses potato art, potato music, and potato events.[v]

This fabric and yarn sculpture, called “Awakening” mirrors the growth of poisonous potato sprouts. OKADA NORIKO/POTASIA

“With the Spirit of Taehongdan County, Let’s Call Out the Last Victory in Potato Farming!” CHAN-GIL MOON/POTASIA

The Modern Gardener

It is even possible to upload your face to a potato via potatoparcel.com

Potato Brains

Following up on the deplorable condition of education in the United States, students can be baffled by the humble potato. This is from NPC (non-player character) University.

Perhaps I should have phrased this “potatoes for brains.”

Potato Slicing

Ever wonder how restaurants generate their groovy potato forms? It isn’t by hand.

Potato processing is a constantly changing market. As this market evolves, so must the processing equipment. New cutting technologies have been developed and they are meeting industry’s demand for higher capacities, larger throughputs, and new and different potato shapes.

 

The Urschel Model CC Potato Chip Slicer is the industry standard slicer for potato chips. The innovative design of this equipment uses centrifugal force to hold product against cutting stations located inside the machine. As the product passes each cutting station, it produces slices, shreds or strips. Motor sizes range from 2, 5 or 10 HP (1.5, 3.7 or

 Potato Farming

It has become very, very sophisticated.

Reggae Potato

We can end this with some sweet potato music.

[i] Front. Plant Sci., 10 January 2022
Sec. Technical Advances in Plant Science
Volume 12 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.768233

[ii] Subedi, S.; Ghimire, Y.N.; Gautam, S.; Poudel, H.K.; Shrestha, J. Economics of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production in terai region of Nepal. Arch. Agric. Environ. Sci. 2019, 4, 57–62.

[iii] Potato Production Worldwide from 2002 to 2019 (In Million Metric Tons). Available online: https://www.statista.com/statistics/382174/global-potato-production/ (accessed on 29 August 2021).