Shocking News About Potatoes!
Reported August 25, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- There are two new ways to improve the nutritional content of one of the Western world's favorite side dishes. Scientists are zapping spuds with electric shocks, and with ultrasound, high frequency sound waves to make the potato healthier.
"We found that treating the potatoes with ultrasound or electricity for 5-30 minutes increased the amounts of antioxidants -- including phenols and chlorogenic acid -- by as much as 50 percent," Kazunori Hironaka, Ph.D., of Obihiro University in Japan was quoted as saying. "Antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables are considered to be of nutritional importance in the prevention of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, various cancers, diabetes and neurological diseases."
The ultrasound treatment consisted of submerging whole potatoes in water and subjecting them to high frequency sound waves for five to ten minutes. To implement the electric shock treatment, researchers immersed the potatoes in a salt solution and zapped them with electrical charges for ten, 20 and 30 minutes. The treatments increased polyphenol levels by 1.2 times and other antioxidants by around 1.6 times.
SOURCE: The 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
Shocking News About Potatoes! | Medical News and Health Information