Potato extract may reduce weight gain by over 60%: Mice study

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

- Last updated on GMT

Potato extract alleviates weight gain in mice by up to 63.2%, according to research
Potato extract alleviates weight gain in mice by up to 63.2%, according to research

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Polyphenol-rich Irish potato extract may help reduce weight gain, according to research in mice.

Female and male rats were fed an obesity-inducing high fat diet with or without polyphenolic-rich potato extracts (PRPE) for a period of ten weeks.

The McGill University researchers found that the mice given the extract diet demonstrated an enhanced capacity for blood glucose clearance while weight gain in this group was alleviated by up to 63.2%.

The mice started out with an average weight of 25g. Those given the control high-fat diet gained about 16g, while those given the same diet with potato extract put on just 7g.

Professor Luis Agellon, one of the authors behind the study published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research​, said they had been “astonished”​ by the results.

“We thought this can’t be right – in fact, we ran the experiment again using a different batch of extract prepared from potatoes grown in another season, just to be certain.”

potatoes

They said the results suggested the extract could be useful as part of a preventative dietary strategy against the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Getting the daily dose

The extract was derived from 30 potatoes, but the researchers said they would not advise this level of consumption due to the calories that would entail. Instead they said a dietary supplement could achieve this dosage without the calorie burden.

Professor Stan Kubow, the study’s principal author, said in the French diet potatoes, not red wine, were the main source of polyphenols. In North America the potato was the third main source of the compound thought to be behind the potential health benefit.

“Potatoes have the advantage of being cheap to produce, and they’re already part of the basic diet in many countries,”​ he said.

Researcher seeks funding

The research team, which was planning to patent the Onaway and Russet Burbank potato extract, said it was now looking for food industry partners to fund further clinical trials.

This initial animal trial was financed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

They said more data was needed to validate the benefits in humans and establish optimal dosages for men and women since metabolisms differed.

Last year the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) rejected supplement firm Kemin’s health claim application​ for its potato extract Slendesta's ability to assist weight loss. The firm presented four unpublished human trials and a meta-analysis as evidence, but in its final opinion EFSA ruled​ that the data had not established a cause and effect relationship between consumption of the extract and reduction of body weight.

 

Source: Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Vol 58, Iss 11, pp. 2235–2238, doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201400013

“Extract of Irish potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) decreases body weight gain and adiposity and improves glucose control in the mouse model of diet-induced obesity”

Authors: S. Kubow, L. Hobson, M. M. Iskandar, K. Sabally, D. J. Donnelly and L. B. Agellon

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2 comments

Astringent

Posted by chris aylmer,

Especially as polyphenols generally have a very astringent bitter flavour.

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Was the mouse food intake measured?

Posted by chris aylmer,

Many years ago I found that putting certain things in rat food affects the taste of the food which can cause them to eat less and therefore lose weight. Were the mice controlled or the amount of food eaten, since the extract taste may put them off the food? You would have to restrict the control animals to the same amount eaten as the test animals to be sure the effect was real.

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