Meeting Consumer Demand

Meeting Consumer Demand. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Potatoes are a very popular item, especially when eaten as chips or fries but also demonized as unhealthy. Dr. Maureen Story is the President and CEO of the Alliance for Potato Research & Education or APRE and says that science is the foundation of everything they do.

STORY: There’s a lot of information and misinformation and non-information about potato consumption, french fry consumption and the nutrient content of potatoes. A lot of scientists, even thought they’re very good scientists may not know how rich of a source of potassium and dietary fiber that potatoes are. So this is a very important part of our research program is to tell our story as widely as possible the scientific community as well as the health professional community.

She says their research also includes obesity and cardiovascular health.

STORY: Nutritional quality speaks to bio-availability of potassium and what we can do to understand the nutrient contributions of potatoes to the diet. Satiety is really another way of getting at obesity. If a person feels full when they’ve had a great meal with potatoes and french fries, they’re likely to not eat as much at the next meal or eat as much at that current meal.

And she says that all has an effect on obesity. More tomorrow with Dr. Story.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.