You Ask, I Answer: Potato Consumption

While a baked potato with the skin left on is a healthy choice, the question is: how do the majority of North Americans eat their potatoes?

-- Kate (last name unknown)
Via the blog

Great question.

Here is what the most recent figures from the United States Department of Agriculture reveal.

In 2002, the "average American" consumed 126 lbs. of potatoes.

Of these 126 lbs., approximately 24 came exclusively from potato chips (the average American consumed 6 lbs. of potato chips in 2002; it takes 4 pounds of potatoes to make 1 pound of potato chips).

Frozen potatoes (mainly french fries) totaled 61 pounds.

Some simple addition reveals that french fries and potato chips make up two thirds of total average potato consumption!

Not exactly the picture of health.

We are still missing some vital information, though.

Although baked potatoes offer a good deal of nutrition (Harvard's School of Public Health Chair Walter Willett's claim that potatoes and candy bars are basically nutritionally identical is ludicruous), this survey does not tell us how people are eating them.

Mainly, how many calories they are being topped with. A pad of butter? Three tablespoons?

What we certainly know is that such a high consumption of French fries doesn't spell out good news for our waistlines.

While a nutritious side dish consisting of medium baked potato topped with a tablespoon of olive oil (that's quite a bit!) adds up to 280 calories, a large order of fries at McDonald's contributes 570.