For this study, associate clinical professor and nutrition expert Keith T. Ayoob, Ed.D., wanted to dig into the impact of omitting starchy vegetables, like potatoes, from one’s diet in favor of seemingly “healthier” options like rice.
To do so, he created two different menu models: one with more starchy vegetables and one with more grains. The starchy vegetable menu included white potatoes at breakfast and dinner. The second menu replaced the starchy vegetables with grain-based foods, specifically whole wheat bread at breakfast and white rice at dinner.
Then, using menu model analyses, Ayoob saw that after just one day replacing starchy vegetables with grains, we’d have 21% less potassium, 17% less vitamin B6, 11% less vitamin C, and 10% less fiber.
As Ayoob notes in a news release, “It’s tempting to think of all carbohydrate foods as interchangeable, but these foods are categorized within different food groups for a reason—perhaps most importantly, they tend to have vastly different vitamin and mineral contents.”
In short? “Nutrition analysis clearly demonstrates that starchy vegetables, including potatoes, are not nutritionally interchangeable with grains […] As with grains, a diverse intake of starchy vegetables should be encouraged,” Ayoob writes.
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