Just a few decades ago, starch was widely popular among housewives as a food product and as a substance useful in the household. After some time, the world learned the “terrible” truth: using it makes people gain weight and lose their health! It should be clear what starch actually gives a person. Benefit and harm are opposite concepts, like day and night. What is truth and what is fiction?
To dot the i’s, you need to “decompose” starch into its component parts and understand how each of them acts on the human body, what it is needed for and what it causes damage to.
benefit and harm
One of the basic foods of humans are carbohydrates. Mono- and disaccharides are those that have nothing in common with potato starch. Polysaccharides are also carbohydrates, only complex ones, which include starch.
The benefits and harms of this substance are still disputed by various scientists. This is where myths about fat deposits appeared in the media, which arise due to an insatiable addiction to jelly and fried potatoes.
There is a certain amount of common sense in this. You will not be able to find an obese person who does not like and consume the mentioned dishes. But this is not the complete truth. The truth is that polysaccharides are an integral component of the health of the body. Moreover, the benefits of starch are to promote weight loss!
Recipe for success
Those adherents of a healthy lifestyle who successfully switched from eating potatoes and potato pancakes to eating rice porridge and pasta did not become slim like the Chinese or Italians. In fact, they changed the “awl for soap.” Nothing has changed fundamentally in their diet. And all because these new “healthy” products also contain polysaccharides.
The whole secret is in the method of preparing everyone’s favorite potatoes, once brought to Russia by Peter the Great. Compare for yourself:
- A raw potato tuber consists of three quarters of water, the remaining quarter consists of all the starch in it and even less.
- The puree contains 11% starch.
- 14% of this substance is in boiled potatoes.
- Contains 35% polysaccharides
- Chips - 53%!
Moderation is good in everything. Both in the quantity eaten and in its quality. Consumption of starchy foods is no exception.
What is vegetable starch used for?
- It is important for muscle fibers and the brain.
- In addition, starch is necessary for the strength of the immune system.
- The benefits and harms of this substance are individual for each organism - this must be remembered. But common to all is the positive effect of consuming this polysaccharide - energy production. The body cannot do without complex carbohydrates.
- It also helps the body resist inflammatory processes.
- Reduces blood sugar levels, making it popular among people with diseases such as diabetes.
- Starch participates in the formation of organic acids.
Corn starch: benefit or harm?
This type of starch is similar to potato starch with only a small difference - it is slightly more nutritious. 300 kcal is found in 100 grams of the “crisp” substance from potatoes, 330 kcal contains corn starch. Their benefits are identical.
How much is normal?
This raises the question: how much starch per day can be considered normal for the average person? If you cannot imagine your life without potatoes, then you can safely eat up to four kilograms of them a day, provided that you do not eat other foods. It is not surprising that doctors prescribe the potato diet to some of their patients.
Caution: starch!
It turns out that all the “horror stories” about this substance are a “canard” generated by the competitive struggle of industrialists? So what really scared people about starch?
The benefits and harms discussed above apply only to plant products containing this polysaccharide. The real danger lies in the refined one and it will not give the body anything from which it could benefit. Mechanical and chemical methods of processing potato or corn raw materials to produce starch contribute to their negative content. It is in such a substance that there is a lack of dietary fiber, so necessary for the body, and too few useful substances.
And if an ordinary housewife avoids adding industrially produced starch to her food, then she may not notice that this product still ends up on her family’s dinner table in significant quantities. After all, everyone loves baked goods baked from high-quality, and therefore high-starch, flour. The “enemy” encroaches on human health, hiding in mayonnaise, ketchup and many other products where starch is added during the production process.
It is this white powder that is capable of provoking hormonal imbalances, atherosclerosis and other equally annoying problems in the human body.
What to do?
The answer to this question is obvious, but it will require some effort from a modern person.
Firstly, if possible, you should avoid products containing industrially produced starch. You can carefully re-read the list of ingredients written on the product packaging, but it would be better to switch to eating simple home-cooked products.
It is better to permanently exclude store-bought sausages, sausages, sauces, chips and other similar products and fast food from your diet. Dishes prepared at home from products grown on your own plot are well nourishing and beneficial.
Secondly, you need to remember that you shouldn’t expect much benefit from starch, which enters the human body along with protein foods. It simply will not be digested, since the alkaline acid involved in this process will be busy digesting the protein. What will starch do? It will simply settle in the fat cells of the human body.
But such “fellow travelers” of potatoes, squash, corn, celery, radish, pumpkin, horseradish and similar vegetables, such as vegetable oil, sour cream, cream - are only beneficial! Help yourself to your health!
Not a single cultivated plant in the world has caused as much controversy and disagreement as potatoes, because the benefits and harms of its use began to be discussed literally from the first days of the appearance of tubers in Europe.
Potatoes were planted and, on the contrary, prohibited. Because of the poisonous fruits, which unknowingly poisoned peasants and nobles, the culture was called the “devil's apple.” The famous “potato riots” are associated with the spread of the vegetable, but a little later, the failure of the harvest of cheap and nutritious tubers in Ireland gave rise to the greatest exodus of the population from their habitable places and the death of hundreds of thousands of people.
When the passions around the garden crop have subsided, and the tubers have become indispensable on almost all continents, the time has come to pay attention to the medicinal properties of potatoes, plant flowers and even its sprouts.
Useful properties and composition of potatoes
Today, the biochemical composition of all parts of the plant and the products it produces has been well studied, so we can say with confidence that the benefits and harms of potatoes, potato juice and starch are determined precisely by the content of certain substances.
Potato tubers, considered “second bread” by most of the population of the Old World and America, contain proteins necessary for building cells of the human body, unsaturated fatty acids and dietary fiber, mono- and disaccharides, organic acids, moisture and other components.
About 40% of the polysaccharides in potatoes are starch, which is widely used for culinary and medicinal purposes.
Potatoes also contain fructose and glucose, pectins, minerals and many vitamins. The main value of the mineral composition of potatoes is the high concentration of potassium, in addition to which calcium and magnesium, phosphorus, chlorine, sodium and iron are found in the tubers and other parts of the plant. Potatoes are also rich in vitamins, including vitamin A and B1, B2, B3, B6 and B9, C, E, H and PP.
What are the benefits and harms of potatoes after heat treatment?
Traditionally, potatoes come to the table in the form of heat-treated dishes. Tubers are fried, boiled and baked, served separately from other products and as part of soups and complex side dishes. Moreover, almost all the vitamins present in potatoes dissolve in water, and some do not tolerate heat well. Therefore, when boiling potatoes, you should not refuse to use potato broth, which has adopted the benefits.
The best from a dietary point of view is potatoes baked in their skins.
It is this dish that can be beneficial in the presence of various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Dietary fiber, contained in abundance in boiled and baked tubers, will help normalize intestinal motility and actively cleanse the stomach and intestines. Fiber adsorbs and promotes the removal of accumulated toxins and cholesterol from the body, neutralizes excess acid, which is extremely important for gastritis with high acidity and peptic ulcers. 
Due to the presence of potassium in tubers, potatoes are often included in the diet of patients with hypertension, heart failure and other diseases of the heart and blood vessels.
Potassium is a heart support and an element that can normalize water balance in the body. Therefore, as a preventive measure, baked potatoes are recommended for everyone who is engaged in physical labor, is actively involved in sports, or regularly endures severe stress. However, it is worth remembering that an excess amount of potatoes is not beneficial, but harmful and can contribute to weight gain.
To meet the daily need for potassium, a person needs to eat 0.5 kg of potatoes; the intake of the highest concentration of this element determines the mild diuretic properties of the product.
Mashed boiled potatoes are used in folk medicine to treat:
- skin diseases, burns and long-term non-healing, purulent wounds;
- inflammatory processes in the upper respiratory tract;
- sharp debilitating cough.
The benefits of potato broth
By growing on your own plot without using chemicals, you have an excellent opportunity to use all parts of the potato for your health. The potato broth obtained after boiling the tubers contains many mineral salts and vitamins transferred from the vegetables into the water. The benefits of potato broth in folk medicine are used:
- for arthrosis and polyarthritis;
- for diseases of the intestines and other organs involved in the digestive process;
- for cardiovascular diseases;
- if necessary, cleanse the body of waste and toxins;
- during rehabilitation after serious illnesses and exhaustion.
Fresh potato broth is useful for the formation of gallstones and obesity, difficulties with bowel movements and Graves' disease. Thanks to the abundance of potassium, the liquid can promote urination, reduce blood pressure, normalize sleep and calm you down.
Potato starch: benefits and harms
The most valuable product obtained from potato tubers is starch, which is used in both food and medicine.
In the absence of harm, potato starch is useful for its pronounced enveloping and anti-inflammatory effect. This product is indispensable for inflammatory processes and excess acidity in the gastrointestinal tract.
It is on the drying effect of starch that its use in powders and lotions on damaged skin is based.
The benefits and harms of potato juice and raw potatoes
Raw tubers and the juice obtained from them have no less, and perhaps more pronounced, medicinal properties than boiled and baked potatoes.
These products contain intact all the beneficial substances inherent in the culture, so from proper use you can expect:
- powerful anti-inflammatory effect;
- antimicrobial action, accompanied by active regeneration of damaged organs and tissues;
- antispasmodic action;
- stimulation of the gastrointestinal system and laxative effect;
- manifestations of diuretic properties;
- general strengthening tonic effect.
Due to the presence of vitamin C, which is practically absent in boiled potatoes, raw tubers and healthy potato juice without harm to the body increases natural defenses, supplies energy, reduces the risk of developing colds and infectious diseases, and improves vascular elasticity.
The beneficial effect of potato juice and unheated tubers was noted on the central nervous system. Substances in potatoes:
- stimulate the activity of the endocrine glands;
- help cope with the symptoms of anemia;
- have an analgesic and sedative effect;
- prevent the formation of cancer cells and the development of tumors.
Gruel from crushed raw potatoes in the form of compresses and lotions is used in dermatology in the treatment of ulcers and eczema, dermatitis, fungal infections and difficult-to-heal skin lesions.
Potato pulp mixed with olive oil will help with joint inflammation and pain.
But grated raw potato gruel or rubbing the spots with a tuber slice will help restore the natural pigmentation of the skin. At the same time, this procedure will relieve fatigue, tighten the facial contour and remove excess sebum.
Potato juice for digestive problems
Potato juice is especially useful for stomach ulcers and gastritis, accompanied by the formation of excess acid. Thanks to its anti-inflammatory effect, juice from fresh potato tubers effectively neutralizes lesions of the mucous membrane, softens and relieves pain. For medicinal purposes, first take small doses of juice, but gradually increase its consumption, bringing the daily intake to 100 ml three times a day. The strongest effect from the juice can be expected if you drink it half an hour before the main meal, in courses over the course of a month.
Potatoes for hemorrhoids
This folk remedy must be used twice a day, after lubricating the candle with vegetable oil or, in the absence of allergies, with bee honey. Regular treatment of hemorrhoids with potato suppositories will allow you to feel relief within a week. The pain syndrome will decrease, and inflammation may disappear altogether. The procedures are carried out in courses at monthly intervals.
Potato sprouts in folk medicine
This part of the plant, not used for food due to its extremely high content of solanine, which is dangerous to humans, can be useful in the fight against allergic reactions and inflammation of the skin. The sprouts also have a pronounced cardiac stimulating effect. Preparations based on potato sprouts are used for joint pain and are effective against arthritis and gout, benign tumors and some eye diseases.
Medicinal properties of potato flowers
Like potato sprouts, the flowers of this plant, which have antifungal, analgesic and cardiac stimulating effects, have also been used in folk medicine. Potato buds and inflorescences are used for exacerbations of allergies, including allergic rhinitis and cough. Since such medicinal properties of potato flowers are due to the presence of solanine and other active compounds, preparations based on such herbs should be used very carefully.
A decoction of flowers helps lower blood pressure, and a pinch of powder from crushed corollas will gently relieve heartburn symptoms.
Potato damage
Despite the many benefits of potatoes, harm from consuming this crop and drugs based on it is also possible. Damage to health can be caused in the event of:
- poisoning with solanine, which is formed in the peel and surface layers of tubers under the influence of sunlight and has a toxic effect on the body;
- overdose of easily digestible high-calorie potato dishes, leading to metabolic disorders, obesity and diabetes;
- an overabundance of fried potato dishes on the menu, which absorb a lot of oil and harm digestion.
Do not forget that the extent of the benefits and harms of potatoes depends on the number of tubers consumed, which have insufficient composition to provide a person with all the microelements, vitamins, acids and salts he needs. By giving preference to potato dishes in your diet, you can doom yourself to a decrease in overall stamina, dulling of sexual desire and depression of nervous activity and digestive problems, especially with low acidity.
Toxic substances formed in the light can cause poisoning not only when consuming green parts of fresh tubers or juice from them, but also from potato decoction, which is useful under other circumstances.
Solanine accumulates not only in tubers, but also in sprouts; this substance is present in inflorescences, fruits and tops of potatoes.
The result of poisoning with this compound is manifested in nausea and vomiting, dizziness, diarrhea, headaches, difficulty breathing and shortness of breath, as well as general weakness and poor health.
Solanine is especially dangerous for pregnant women and young children.
When eating tubers that have turned green or have been stored for a long time, peel them off in a thick layer, breaking off all the sprouts at the same time. And when using traditional medicine from potato sprouts and inflorescences, it is important to strictly adhere to dosages and be sure to consult a specialist about any contraindications.
Video about the benefits and harms of potatoes
As with most other food products, potato starch has both benefit and harm in one.
A powder with a free-flowing consistency is obtained from potatoes, which has a white or slightly yellowish tint. As a rule, this tuber food product is called starch. It refers to complex carbohydrates, which are present:
- in fruits;
- in vegetables;
- legumes;
- cereals;
- in nuts.
Under the influence of gastric juice, this powder becomes glucose, which supplies the body with energy. Starch of potato origin often serves as a paste, which explains its widespread use in the preparation of all kinds of gravies, jelly and, of course, sauces. When baking baked goods, starch from potatoes is also necessary to give it crumbly quality. It can partially replace flour.
The benefits and harms of potato starch, from a medical point of view, are varied.
The benefits of potato starch
Potato carbohydrate is also widely used in folk medicine. It is used for peptic ulcers, as it has enveloping and anti-inflammatory properties.
Food that contains starchy foods or potato starch, after consumption, causes the so-called “full stomach effect,” which in turn can be useful for weight loss for people suffering from excessive appetite.
Bread, jelly or porridge prepared with the addition of starch flour slow down the process of sugar absorption, which benefits people with diabetes.
Harm of starch
The greatest danger to the body comes from consuming potato flour in its pure form, obtained by isolating part of the natural starch from foods. Vegetables that contain starch are washed, peeled and ground to a porridge-like state, adding sulfur dioxide so that the resulting powder remains white. Using special equipment, this slurry is passed through a filter and defoaming unit, then boiled for a long time, after which it undergoes a refining process (potato juice is removed from the solution). With the help of caustic alkali and hypochlorites (hypochlorous acid salt HClO), the resulting solution undergoes the final stage of purification. After all procedures, refined potato starch is ready. The entire process of industrial processing of starch-containing products is called extraction.
So, sulfur dioxide is E220, a very toxic preservative that is often used in the food industry for processing; it is a gas with a pungent odor. A significant increase in the amount of this toxin in the body can lead to the appearance of:
- runny nose;
- discomfort in the throat;
- hoarseness.
An excess of this toxin may be accompanied by the following symptoms:
- nausea;
- speech disorder;
- suffocation;
- vomit;
- pulmonary edema.
However, sulfur dioxide, for all its long list of negative properties, has one positive one, namely the fight against microbes. Therefore, for example, it is used to treat meat to destroy infections and preserve its natural color.
The caustic alkalis in this treatment process are potassium and sodium hydroxides. Their excessive ingestion into the body is accompanied by burns of the esophagus and stomach, as well as acute pain in the gastrointestinal tract, severe thirst, urinary retention, etc.
The benefits and harms of potato starch depend only on the correct choice of dosage of use. You should use refined potato powder in cooking very carefully and according to proportions to avoid overdose. When purchasing potato starch, you need to pay attention to all the stamps; this product must be certified.
Starch is a free-flowing white or pale yellow substance found in a potato tuber in the form of starch inclusions or grains. These grains are located in the potato itself closer to the eye, have an oval or round shape, and grooves are observed on the surface of the starch grains of the potato. The larger the starch grain (for potatoes this value is 15-100 microns), the higher the quality of the product itself is considered.
The chemical composition classifies potato starch as a quickly digestible carbohydrate. Amylopectin and amylose are natural constituent fractions in starch. This product has two moisture classification groups:
- group A– with starch moisture content from 38% to 40%;
- group B– at humidity – from 50% to 52%.
The second classification of starch divides its raw materials into 3 grades:
- I and II grades: characterized by a pleasant smell, rich white color;
- grade III starch: allows a slight gray tint and a sour smell.
How can starch be useful?
The beneficial properties of starch are as follows:
- starch grains are rich in microelements such as potassium;
- starch can effectively reduce cholesterol levels in the blood and liver, that is, it has an anti-sclerotic effect on the body;
- helps remove excess water from the human body: this quality of starch is especially important for people with diseased kidneys, or during a hangover;
- a large concentration of unrefined carbohydrates in starch grains assists the body in the overall fight against inflammatory processes and the development of tumors, the growth of pathogenic cells;
- starch is essential for the diet of people suffering from diabetes, since its presence in the food tract reduces the rate and intensity of sugar absorption into the human blood, thereby lowering the sugar level after meals;
- starch is the most valuable carbohydrate in terms of energy supply to the body, which gives it 40-50% of the energy of the entire diet, and up to 80% provides the body with the daily requirement of carbohydrates;
- starch is involved in maintaining the level of human immunity;
- produces organic acids in the body, participates in the formation of riboflavin and activates the synthesis of vitamin B2, which helps normal metabolism and digestion;
- When potatoes are heat treated, vitamin C is formed in their peel;
- starch reduces acidity in the digestive tract and also has enveloping properties that effectively reduce the risk of ulcers in the stomach.
Potato starch harm
Potato starch is a saturated carbohydrate that quickly replenishes the body’s energy needs, which in case of abuse of potatoes, and with it starch, leads to excessive accumulation of unspent energy, which turns into fat cells.
Starch exists in two forms:
- its natural content in potatoes, which enters the human body when the latter is consumed - in the diet;
- industrially extracted starch - in the form of white crystalline powder.
This carbohydrate in its natural form is not harmful to human health if consumed rationally without extremes. But modified starch, obtained from potatoes through industrial refining, increases the level of inulin in the body. This negatively affects the hormonal background of the body, vision, and the condition of blood vessels. Starch modification is aimed at chemically changing the properties of starch, which in some cases is acceptable in food production, for example, in baby food. But more often the opposite is observed - modified starch in large quantities provokes negative phenomena in the body - flatulence, stomach upsets, pancreatic diseases, obesity.
Application of potato starch
Since ancient times, there has been a known recipe for using potatoes (due to the presence of starch in them) as a remedy for sunburn. In industry, starch serves as a binder in the manufacture of many food products (sauces, pastes, mayonnaise, purees, meat products). It is used to make maltodextrin, which is necessary for additional mass - in flavors, fillers, extracts.
Potato starch is an irreplaceable, important component of a healthy human diet, responsible for the carbohydrate balance in the body and energy replenishment of human strength. But its beneficial qualities appear only when natural forms of starch are used. Modified or refined starch is of little use to humans, but it is widely used in the food industry.
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