![]() When a potato is baked, contents of vitamin B6 and vitamin C decline with little significant change in other nutrients 22). ![]() ![]() In a 100 gram amount, raw potato provides 77 calories and is a rich source of vitamin B6 and vitamin C (23% and 24% of the Daily Value, respectively), with no other nutrients in significant amount (Table 1. Potato nutrition facts). Raw potato is 79% water, 17% carbohydrates (88% of which is starch), 2% protein, 2% dietary fiber and contains negligible amount of fat (Table 1. Potato nutrition facts). Since glycoalkaloids are not destroyed by cooking, cutting away green areas and peeling potatoes before cooking ensures healthy eating 21). Under exposure to light, potatoes turn green in colour due to increased levels of chlorophyll, which can also indicate higher levels of solanine and chaconine 20). Potatoes should be stored in a dark, cool place in order to keep glycoalkaloid content low 19). Glycoalkaloids are normally found at low levels in the tuber and occur in the greatest concentrations just beneath the skin. Toxic components of potatoĪs part of the potato plant’s natural defences against fungi and insects, its leaves, stems and sprouts contain high levels of toxic compounds called glycoalkaloids (usually solanine and chaconine) 18). As of 2014, China led the world in potato production, and, together with India, produced 37% of the world’s potatoes 17). It remains an essential crop in Europe (especially eastern and central Europe), where per capita production is still the highest in the world, but the most rapid expansion over the past few decades has occurred in southern and eastern Asia. However, the local importance of the potato is variable and changing rapidly. Over 99% of the presently cultivated potatoes worldwide descended from varieties that originated in the lowlands of south-central Chile, which have displaced formerly popular varieties from the Andes 15), 16). Following millennia of selective breeding, there are now over a thousand different types of potatoes 14). The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated independently in multiple locations, but later genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species proved a single origin for potatoes in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia (from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex), where they were domesticated approximately 7,000–10,000 years ago 12), 13). Wild potato species can be found throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile 11). The green leaves and green skins of tubers exposed to the light are toxic 9). It is the world’s fourth-largest food crop, following corn, wheat, and rice 8). Potato has become a staple food in many parts of the world and an integral part of much of the world’s food supply. The Andean potato is adapted to the short-day conditions prevalent in the mountainous equatorial and tropical regions where it originated the Chilean potato, however, native to the Chiloé Archipelago, is adapted to the long-day conditions prevalent in the higher latitude region of southern Chile 7). There are two major subspecies of Solanum tuberosum: andigena, or Andean and tuberosum, or Chilean 6). There is one pentaploid cultivated species (with 60 chromosomes): S. There are two triploid species (with 36 chromosomes): S. There are also four diploid species (with 24 chromosomes): S. The major species grown worldwide is Solanum tuberosum (a tetraploid with 48 chromosomes), and modern varieties of this species are the most widely cultivated. Genetically modified varieties have met public resistance in the United States and in the European Union 4), 5). Cross-breeding has been done repeatedly to transfer resistances to certain pests and diseases from the gene pool of wild species to the gene pool of cultivated potato species. Apart from the 5,000 cultivated varieties, there are about 200 wild species and subspecies, many of which can be cross-bred with cultivated varieties. They belong to eight or nine species, depending on the taxonomic school. Three thousand of them are found in the Andes alone, mainly in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, and Colombia. There are about 5,000 potato varieties worldwide 3). Potatoes were introduced to Europe in the second half of the 16th century by the Spanish 2). In the Andes, where the species is indigenous, some other closely related species are cultivated. The word “potato” may refer either to the plant itself or to the edible tuber 1). The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum. Potato’s role in the developing world’s “nutrition transition”.
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