Potatoes have had a bad wrap for a long time, especially with those on the anti-carb diet who claim them to be “empty calories.” However, new research found that purple potatoes may significantly help lower blood pressure. In a recent study, obese individuals were fed 6-8 small purple potatoes (the size of a golf ball) with skin, twice a day for a month. Findings have shown that patients’ average diastolic blood pressure dropped by 4.3% and systolic pressure decreased by 3.5%.

That’s great news if you like microwaved potatoes with skin on. Although they are good sometimes, especially the purple ones which are more sweet, they do get bland quickly. If you like potatoes the way they are served best, that is deep fried in oil and depleted of nutritional value, oatmeal might be a better option for lowering your blood pressure.

[via i09.com]

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Lucia Phan has a Bachelors Degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Food & City Culture and Environmental Economics. She is the founder of Banana Slug Edibles, where she bakes specialty cakes and cupcakes for patients in Orange County & Los Angeles. In her free time she likes to collect recipes and will forever be searching for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe known to man.