Researchers have found that a couple servings of potatoes a day reduces blood pressure almost as much as oatmeal without causing weight gain. The research was done on a group of overweight people with high blood pressure, and although they used purple potatoes, they believe that red-skin potatoes and white potatoes may have similar effects.
In the study, 18 patients who were primarily overweight/obese with high blood pressure ate between six and eight purple potatoes (each about the size of a golf ball) with skins twice daily for a month.
The research used purple potatoes because the pigment is especially rich in beneficial phytochemicals. Scientists monitored the patients’ blood pressureand found average diastolic blood pressure dropped by 4.3 percent and the systolic pressure decreased by 3.5 percent.
Read more at Science Daily