Shocking! How do you increase antioxidants in a potato?

What does a stressed out potato do? It just gets better.

Researchers at Japan’s Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine stressed potatoes with electric shocks and high frequency sound waves.

Result: The spuds’ antioxidant levels were boosted by more than half.

Lead researcher Kazunori Hironaka, Ph.D., came up with the idea. After studying potatoes for years, he found that bruising, drought and other stressors increased potatoes’ antioxidant phenolic compounds.

Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that even with the extra antioxidants, your body reacts to potato starch almost the same way as it reacts to eating a candy bar: it prompts a sharp blood sugar spike.

Fortunately, Dr. Hironaka has moved on from potatoes. He reports that other plant foods also increase antioxidants when stressed. So he and his colleagues will head back to the lab for more shock and sound wave sessions with bananas, apples, peaches, etc.

Don’t be surprised if someday soon your local Whole Foods sets aside a special electro-shocked produce section.

Source:
“Shocking Spuds” Joanna Cosgrove, Nutraceuticals World, 10/21/10, nutraceuticalsworld.com