French fry lovers beware! Chowing down on fried potatoes has recently been linked to a higher risk of death, researchers say.
According to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating fried tatters at least twice weekly could rob you of years from your life. The study, which looked at 4,400 older adults between the ages 45 and 79, over the course of eight years, discovered that at the end of the trial, 236 of those participants had died.
While additional studies are needed, study leaders suggest that the, “frequent consumption of fried potatoes [French fries, fried potatoes and hash browns] appears to be associated with an increased mortality risk.”
Meanwhile, researchers add that eating unfried potatoes [boiled, baked, or mashed] was not linked to an increased risk of death. In fact, unfried white spuds are considered relatively healthy, due to their good fiber, vitamin, and micronutrients content. The study authors write that this “could have counterbalanced the detrimental effects of their high glycemic index.”
For instance, a medium plain white potato contains 36 percent of your daily vitamin C, 27 percent of your potassium and 14 content of your fiber. Additionally, a 2014 study found that potatoes don’t, in fact cause weight gain.
“When prepared in a healthful manner there is no reason to not eat potatoes regularly,” study author Britt Burton-Freeman, PhD, director of the Center for Nutrition Research at Illinois Institute of Technology, told Time.