Posted on 06/25/2007 3:22:59 PM PDT by blam
Source: Society of Chemical Industry
Date: June 25, 2007
Potato Salad May Help the Immune System
Science Daily — It has long been known that eating potatoes is good for bowel health, but new research suggests that they may also have a beneficial effect on the whole immune system. Especially if eaten cold or in a potato salad, Anne Pichon reports in Chemistry & Industry.
Spanish researchers found that growing pigs fed large quantities of raw potato starch (RPS) had a healthier bowel. Not a surprise, but they also found that RPS pigs had decreased levels of white blood cells, such as leucocytes and lymphocytes in their blood. White blood cells are produced as a result of inflammation or disease, generally when the body is challenged.
The general down-regulation of leucocytes observed by the Spanish researchers suggests an overall beneficial effect, a generally more healthy body, according to immunology expert Lena Ohman at the Department of Internal Medicine, Göteborg University, Sweden. A reduction in leucocyte levels of about 15% was observed in the RPS pigs. Lower lymphocyte levels are also indicative of reduced levels of inflammation, but according to Ohman, the observed reduction in both lymphocyte density and lymphocyte apoptosis by the Spanish researchers is surprising.
Pigs were fed RPS over 14 weeks in what is the longest study of it kind on the effect of starch on bowel health (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture doi:10.1002/jsfa.2835). Study leader José Francisco Pérez at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, said: 'The use of raw potato starch in this experiment is designed to simulate the effects of a diet high in resistant starch' says Pérez.
Humans do not eat raw potatoes, but they do eat a lot of foods that contain resistant starch, such as cold boiled potatoes, legumes, grains, green bananas, pasta and cereals About 10% of the starch eaten by human is resistant starch - starch that is not digested in the small intestine and so is shunted into the large intestine where it ferments.
Starch consumption is thought to reduce the risk of large bowel cancer and may also have an effect on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Ohman's team previously found that the overall lymphocyte levels do not vary for IBS patients, but that lymphocytes are transferred from the peripheral blood to the gut, which support the hypothesis of IBS being at least partially an inflammatory disorder. She says the decrease in lymphocytes observed by the Spanish is therefore interesting, and a diet of resistant starch may be worth trying in IBS patients.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Society of Chemical Industry.
I don’t think there’s a Fred Meyer here in New Mexico, but I’ll look for one when I’m on travel. I wouldn’t mind having a good potato salad.
Another thing I really miss is my Grandmother’s coleslaw. I’ve never found anything that has ever come close to what she used to make.
I am them. (90% of the Irish have R1b DNA, just like me)
A Dutch Recipe
1 lb Bacon or salt pork
8 Hard Boiled Eggs
10 med Potatoes
1 head Lettuce, cut up
Fry bacon/salt pork.
Add bacon and eggs to cut up lettuce.
Heat bacon grease and add 1/4 to 1/2 cup vinegar. Heat throughly. Mash potatoes, add lettuce and egg and bacon. Pour grease and vinegar mix over potato mixture and mix together.
“I dunno. It’s real Scotch he drinks on stage, large tumblers of it.”
Gawd! Really? That’s what my ‘NASCAR-lovin’, Country Rock or Die’ friend said too when he introduced me to this guys particular “brand” of humor.
I think it has to be a “schtick.” You can’t be a total fall-down drunk and keep getting gigs.
It worked for Dean Martin, though he never did drink (supposedly it was always a glass of apple juice and ice) and there’s really nothing new under the sun, is there?
I’m not disparaging the man; Funny is funny. :)
Well, I wouldn’t put it past the Commies in MY state either to make us look better off “Agriculturally” than we are too, LOL!
I’m going out to kick over the Tater Tire Tower right now in protest!
Not really. I’d never hurt a ‘tater until RIGHT before it hits my dinner plate. :)
“Diana, Do you make your own compost? Do you grow baking potatoes? Do you cut up hot peppers to add into your potato salad or is my wife the only one who does that?”
I have four compost piles. I’m totally lazy about it. They’re on a four-year rotation, and we push the oldest one over each Spring and then add the contents to the garden. But, since I have laying hens now, they get “first dibs” so we don’t have as much as we used to. And my boys are all grown now, so Husband and I don’t make as much veggie-matter waste as those fools used to, LOL!
I don’t bother with baking potatoes. They’re so cheap around here, as are onions and carrots. I’ll grow Fingerlings, or Blue potatoes now. In the past, I grew Yukon Gold because you couldn’t easily get them, but now you can get them every week at the local grocer.
I’ve never thought to add hot peppers to Potato Salad, but I’d give it a whirl. More likely with the mustard-variety, and not the German-variety. :)
Yep. I love both of these books and recommend them at every opportunity:
“Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew, and...
“How to Grow More Food on Less Land Than You Ever Thought Possible” by John Jeavons.
There’s also a great book on Urban gardening called “Anything Grows.” I forget the author, and it’s out of print, but I remember it was a female author, and she recommends “Edible Landscaping” ideas, as does Rosalind Creasy. Useful books to check which will change the way you look at your food and your yard, be it big or small...or none at all! :)
(I’ve never met Mr. Bartholomew, but I’ve met Mr. Jeavons, and he knows his stuff.)
No matter what the MSM tells you, you really CAN grow a lot of your own food along with what you have to buy. :)
Thanks, very good info re: types of potatoes.
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