There
are about five thousand potato varieties worldwide. Three thousand of
them are found in the Andes alone, mainly in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,
Bolivia and Chile.
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The
potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennuial
Solanum tuberosum of the Solanacae familly.
In the region of the
Andes there are some other closely related cultivated potato species.
Potatoes were introduced outside the Andes region four centuries ago,
and have become an integral part of much of the world's cuisine.
It
is the world's fourth largest food crop, follows rice, wheat and
maize.
The
common white potato contains two narcotic alkaloids named chaconine
and solanine which makes potato poisoning, they are poisoness
even when cooked. Solanine poisoning will produce weakness, throat
burning, intestinal irritations, stomach pains, diarrhea, or
constipation, ulceration, hemorrhage. White potato contains gama
amino butyric acid, that may have sedative activity.
Red
potatos is more recommended over white, because does not have this
poisons due to the different chemistry, but unfortunately in Europe
is more food for the pigs, because scientificaly educated “inteligent
people” believe that white potato is the best potato food for
humans.
Cholinesterase,
the enzyme plays important role in nerve impulses, the toxins
chaconine and solanine in potatos affect nerve
transmition like the most toxic chemical warfare agents. They block
nerve transmition and are also teratogens, substances that
cause fetal malformations.
In
potatos are present at 15 mg per 200 g (75 ppm), at autopsy both of
them are found in the tissues of potato eaters.
Potatoes are supposed to be one of the world's greatest foods, filled with calcium, niacin, iron, vitamin C and plenty of carbohydrates. A diet of milk and potatoes, the "textbooks say", will provide all the nutrients the human body needs. But there is trouble lurking beneath the skin. According to a controversial new theory, potatoes, eaten in large quantities by a population increasingly sedentary and overweight, may be a major contributor to America's alarming rates of heart disease and diabetes.
The problem, according to Meir Stampfer, a nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, is potato starch. When you eat a potato and that starch hits the saliva in your mouth, its tightly bundled molecules immediately get turned into sugars, which make a beeline for the blood. "You ate a potato," says Stampfer, "but your body is getting pure glucose." The flood of blood sugar sets off a chain reaction. Insulin pours out of the pancreas. Triglycerides shoot up. HDL (good) cholesterol takes a dive. "It's a perfect setup for heart disease and diabetes," says Stampfer.
This is not just a potato problem. It's also a problem with bread, bagels and most rice (cereales). But couch potatoes don't have to give up their spuds altogether, as long as they eat them in moderation. Or they could switch to sweet potatoes and yams, which metabolize less rapidly and wreak less havoc with blood sugar. Bagel.
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| We are what we eat ;) |
Potatoes are supposed to be one of the world's greatest foods, filled with calcium, niacin, iron, vitamin C and plenty of carbohydrates. A diet of milk and potatoes, the "textbooks say", will provide all the nutrients the human body needs. But there is trouble lurking beneath the skin. According to a controversial new theory, potatoes, eaten in large quantities by a population increasingly sedentary and overweight, may be a major contributor to America's alarming rates of heart disease and diabetes.
The problem, according to Meir Stampfer, a nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, is potato starch. When you eat a potato and that starch hits the saliva in your mouth, its tightly bundled molecules immediately get turned into sugars, which make a beeline for the blood. "You ate a potato," says Stampfer, "but your body is getting pure glucose." The flood of blood sugar sets off a chain reaction. Insulin pours out of the pancreas. Triglycerides shoot up. HDL (good) cholesterol takes a dive. "It's a perfect setup for heart disease and diabetes," says Stampfer.
This is not just a potato problem. It's also a problem with bread, bagels and most rice (cereales). But couch potatoes don't have to give up their spuds altogether, as long as they eat them in moderation. Or they could switch to sweet potatoes and yams, which metabolize less rapidly and wreak less havoc with blood sugar. Bagel.
.jpg)
Might it be your healthy choice as well ;)...
References:
-
Natural scince of health
- Quillin, 123
Udon
Thani - Thailand, 14.03.2001
