The humble potato is growing in popularity among endurance athletes like cyclists and ultramarathoners, according to the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association. The association and Jenny Heap, MS, RDN, note endurance athletes are diversifying their mid-competition fuel options by adding potatoes to the rotation.
They say this athletic attention is more than a fa; in fact, it’s backed by research and may have been sparked, in part, by research supported by the Alliance for Potato Research and Education and published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2019.
In a randomized crossover trial, 12 trained cyclists were fueled with russet potato puree or a commercial energy gel during a two-hour cycling challenge followed by a time trial. The cyclists consumed water only for the control cycling challenge. Results showed the potato puree and commercial carbohydrate gel were equally effective in sustaining blood glucose levels and improving speed during the time trials.
While the study wasn’t double-blinded since the athletes knew what they were consuming, the association, Heap and Annie Wetter, retired professor of nutrition at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, report that blood draws during the potato and carbohydrate gel-fueled cycling challenges showed similar increases in circulating glucose, indicating comparable carbohydrate availability. A later study published in 2020 showed similar results, that potato-based products were equally effective in replenishing muscle glycogen post-workout.
“Another consideration important to many consumers is the environmental impact of their food choices,” says Wetter, an expert in sports nutrition and eating for wellness.
She notes most sports foods like gels, bars and chews are ultraprocessed that require manufacturing and shipping from far flung places. Their wrappers cannot be recycled or repurposed and clog landfills.
“But potatoes are a minimally processed food that Wisconsinites can purchase directly from local farmers to support their local economy and reduce their diet’s environmental impact,” Wetter continues. “Many grocery stores feature Wisconsin-grown potatoes, so even potatoes from the store will have lower food miles than foods grown and processed elsewhere.”
She advises anyone who wants to reduce the environmental impact of their diet to eat more plant protein and less animal protein. Ounce for ounce, vegetables, including potatoes, were found to have the lowest environmental impact and best nutrition profile among a wide array of foods, especially compared to animal-based foods and ultra processed, packaged food products.
“When people think about dietary protein, meat is the food that comes to mind first,” Wetter says. “Understanding that all plant foods provide protein and a diet with a wide variety of plant foods does provide enough protein to meet our needs enables consumers to make food choices that honor both their value for the environment and their health.”
Potatoes as a whole-food fuel
Potatoes are a whole food, and this is part of what makes them so well-suited as a fuel for physical activity, according to the association. Whole foods like potatoes bring a naturally deep bench of beneficial macro- and micronutrients. One medium (5.3 ounces) skin-on potato provides the following:
- 26 g of complex carbohydrate (including 2 g fiber), mostly in the form of easily digested amylopectin and amylose, a resistant starch that undergoes fermentation in the gut and supports a healthy microbiome.
- 3 g of high-quality protein per 100-calorie serving, comparable with many nuts and better than most grains.
- 620 mg potassium, roughly 15% of the daily value and more than a large banana.
- 20 mg vitamin C, roughly 30% of the daily value and necessary in the creation of collagen.
- 46.7 mg magnesium, roughly 11% of the daily value, which is necessary for muscle function and repair, regulating blood pressure, energy production, and glucose regulation.
- 0.2 mg vitamin B6, roughly 10% of the daily value, which is a key vitamin for the production of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the brain, muscles and all other parts of the body.
- 1.1 mg iron, or 6% of the daily value, which quite literally puts the “heme” in hemoglobin, crucial for oxygen delivery to the brain and muscles.
Wetter adds that when athletes fuel up matters. For athletes who engage in relatively intense and/or long-duration training and competition, muscles need plenty of stored carbohydrates, called glycogen. During the training and competition seasons, a high-carbohydrate diet day in, day out is necessary to ensure adequate muscle glycogen stores.
Athletes generally don’t need to eat carbs during bouts of training or competition lasting less than 90 minutes. However, soccer players, runners, triathletes and other endurance athletes can benefit from eating carbs right before and/or during sessions of 90 minutes or longer.
“I rely on potatoes during long-distance races. I prefer them dipped in salt so I can drink water instead of sports drinks. Some people prefer the mild taste of potatoes to the intensely sweet and artificially flavored sports products. They cost less too: 40 grams of carbs from a Clif Bar costs $2.50 or more, whereas 40 g of carbs from potatoes costs about 75 cents,” Wetter says.
Potatoes are easy to digest and deliver carbohydrate energy quickly to muscles so they can be a good choice before or during long-duration exercise. Under these circumstances, be sure that they are not fried or have other high-fat add-ons like cheese. Fat slows digestion and prevents the carbohydrates from getting to the muscles. Food settling in the stomach during exercise can also lead to nausea and gut discomfort. The highly processed sports foods such as goos, bars and chews are all low in fat.
