Potatoes: What's Keeping Your Spuds from Spudding?

The potato often gets a bum rap as far as its health benefits are concerned. In fact, the potato is one of the most nutritious foods available. The bad rap that potatoes are given is often due to the way they are prepared. Baked potatoes loaded with cheese and sour cream, greasy french fries, or deep fried potato chips are some examples of a potato that is unhealthy as prepared.

However, an average potato contains every nutrient except for Vitamin A. It is an excellent source of Vitamin B6, containing 20% or more of the recommended daily allowance. Vitamin B6 helps with the formation of cells which regulate the nervous system, brain cell activity, and the lowering of blood pressure. The potato is also a huge source of fiber-but only if the skin is eaten. The skin is also an important source of Vitamin C if eaten raw, but most of the ascorbic acid is lost when cooking.

Since the potato and especially the skin of the potato is such an important source of vital nutrition, should we be concerned that many store-bought potatoes are being sprayed with a chemical to keep them from sprouting? Have you ever noticed how long potatoes can stay in your cupboard without producing sprouts? Chlorprophram liquid concentrate is a chemical that is commonly used to keep potatoes from sprouting.

This chemical is labeled as a poison and skin irritant. Now think about this for a moment. Your food is being sprayed with a poison before you purchase it at the store. You can read more about Chlorprophram at http://www.agservices.ca/documents/E.C._Label_e.pdf.

If a person were to swallow this chemical, you need to induce vomiting (again, you should not swallow this chemical, yet it is on your potatoes). If the chemical gets on your skin, you should wash your skin with clean soapy water and remove contaminated clothing. How much of this chemical gets on our skin when we are handling or washing our potatoes? You should also not get this chemical in your eyes, and should avoid inhaling. Hmm, this doesn't sound too healthy, does it?

So how do you keep the health benefits of the potato when the potatoes you just brought home from the grocery are laden with poison? Here are a few ideas:

1) Buy potatoes from a local farmer's market or locally grown produce stand. Ask the grower if they are in the practice of spraying their potatoes with Chlorprophram or any other agent to keep them from sprouting. They most likely do not contaminate their produce, so purchasing locally is not only good for your local economy, but your family's health as well.

2) Purchase seed potatoes and grow your own. You do not need a lot of room in order to grow potatoes. You can grow even grow them in a barrel or in old tires. Because you can be very versatile in the way your potatoes are grown, you could even grow them on a small patio. This would save you money as well.

3) As a last resort, you could purchase organic potatoes from the store. These are often not available and expensive when they can be found.

If you must purchase potatoes from your local grocer, be sure to wash them carefully before cooking. You should also forgo eating the skins of potatoes that are commercially purchased. This should not mean that all of the nutritional value of the potato will be lost, because the fleshy "meat" of the spud still contains lots of vitamins, including traces of copper and iron. Enjoy.