Sweet Potatoes Erroneously Reported as Healthier

blood sugar carbohydrates diet trends fiber healthy eating myth updated from initial 8/5/22 publication Mar 24, 2023

The size used for comparison was a Russet that’s 52% larger in weight! That is the loophole Sweet Potatoes used to promote superior health benefits. And if it's so simple and obvious, how did so many trusted nutritional professionals and reliable resources get this nutrition fact wrong?

The USDA's website is the root cause of this misinformation.

Small, medium, and large sizes are most familiar to the general population and easiest to visualize. The problem is the weight for each medium sample on the USDA’s website isn’t the same; see USDA images below.

Comparing weight in grams is more accurate than size.

The USDA’s medium russet potato is 1.52 times larger than their medium raw sweet potato, which weighs only 114 grams, see image below. Their medium russet potato weighs 173 grams, baked.

Baked vs. Raw

When it comes to starchy carbs like potatoes, the carbohydrate content is potentially impacted by baking. That’s why it’s noteworthy that only the USDA’s medium-sized sweet potato is “raw” while all the other sample sizes are baked. We’ll save that investigation for a future post.

Never trust. Always verify!

After the World Health Organization published its “Healthy Diet Fact Sheet,” the reference to all potatoes caught my attention. They specifically point to “potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, and other starchy roots,” which are not classified as fruit or vegetables; see the image below. I understood that statement as “all potatoes are equally unhealthy.”

Compelling Incorrect Narrative

Nutritional professionals, reputable resources like Cleveland Clinic, and the image below from the University Health News all pointed to the same USDA nutrition facts as their resource. All used the same erroneous “medium” size for nutritional facts comparison and conclusions.

Realistic Recommendation

Enjoy the type of potato you like most, on occasion, as an exception. No matter what the kind, Potatoes are a high starch root carbohydrate that will reliably spike blood sugar. All potatoes lack natural Fiber to slow the insulin response effectively.

Learn More!

It’s normal to look to confirm what we already believe. But in the case of potatoes, we got a compelling incorrect narrative that nutrition professionals and food manufacturers promoted. Now we know better, it’s more proof that it’s time to update what we know to be true about food and healthy eating.

Update what you know to be true about carbohydrates! Learn more by listening to my podcast episode, don’t eliminate carbs, Eliminate Carbohydrate Confusion and learn how Fiber is the Natural Fat Blocker.

Ovvia® Members watch the Member’s Video Library video to learn more about how “Starch is Sugar.”