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Potato Starch

Level 3 — ContestedIn Winter's Dictionary2 sources

Potato Starch is a thickener gum — Flour prepared from potatoes; swells in hot water to form gel

What it does

Flour prepared from potatoes; swells in hot water to form gel

Where you'll see it

processed foods, thickeners, glazes

What the research says

May cause allergic skin reactions and stuffy nose in the hypersensitive. [salt-sugar-fat] Starch in potato chips is digested as long chains of glucose that hit the bloodstream faster than table sugar — Harvard's Eric Rimm: a potato 'is really quickly metabolized to sugar even quicker than a similar amount of sugar.' Potato chips were the #1 weight-gain food in the 120,877-person Harvard cohort study.

Regulatory status

  • US FDA: GRAS
  • EU: approved

Sources

  • Salt Sugar Fat (Moss) — Chapter 14 (I Feel So Sorry for the Public): The chip, at about 160 calories an ounce, led to a 1.69-pound gain in weight in each of the four-year study periods
  • A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives (Winter): May cause allergic skin reactions and stuffy nose in the hypersensitive