11/22/07 The healthy spud

USDA researchers have found some potato varieties that are packed with health promoting compounds called phytochemicals. Plant geneticist Roy Navarre and colleagues in Washington and Oregon found 60 different kinds of phytochemicals and vitamins in the skins and flesh of 100 wild and commercially grown potatoes. One class of compounds are called phenolics. NAVARRE "There are thousands of different phenolic implants; it's a big group of compounds. Potato has really a lot of these compounds. Different phenolics have different properties, some are anti-oxidants, some have anti-cancer properties, just a huge range of different medical or health promoting properties" Navarre says total phenolics content of red and Norkotah potatoes rivaled that of other vegetables. NAVARRE "Over a ten fold difference from one variety to another in how much phenolics they have and the highest phenolic potatoes that we found have substantially high phenolics than any of the vegetables that we personally checked out." This information should help farmers, distributors and potato breeders explore consumer markets and develop new varieties based on dietary findings. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott