London, Aug 23 (IANS) Zapping humble potatoes with electricity makes them even healthier, scientists have found.
The electric shot tricked the tubers into producing a slew of antioxidants known to keep the body and brain healthy.
Scaled up to an industrial level, the low-cost process could give potatoes an image makeover, reports the Daily Mail.
Other tests in the same study found that using ultrasound on potatoes had a similarly beneficial effect.
Kazunori Hironaka, from Japan’s Obihiro University, said: ‘Antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables are considered to be of nutritional importance in the prevention of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, various cancers, diabetes and neurological diseases.’
Prompted by the observation that drought, bruising and natural challenges led to vegetables making more antioxidants, Hironaka decided to probe man-made means.
Hironaka said: ‘We found that there hadn’t been any research done on the healthy effects of using mechanical processes to stress vegetables. So we decided to evaluate the effect of ultrasound and electric treatments on antioxidants on potatoes.’
Whole potatoes were dipped in salty water, to help them conduct electricity, and then zapped with a small charge for up to half an hour. Subsequent tests revealed that antioxidant levels had risen by up to 60 percent.
Five minutes of ultrasound – a technique normally associated with scanning babies in the womb – had a similar effect, an American Chemical Society conference was told.
Hironaka said the study showed that the ‘non-destructive’ treatment was a simple and inexpensive way of making one of ‘our favourite foods’ even more appealing.
He added: ‘The potato is one of the most important crops, ranking fifth in terms of human consumption and fourth in worldwide productions.’
However, Hironaka did not say whether the process affects the taste.
