Nutritionists wary over linking potatoes to diabetes in children

Nutritionists in Hong Kong have played down warnings for pregnant women to rein in their appetite for potatoes after an Australian research team found that spuds, previously considered healthy, could trigger diabetes in children.

According to Australian newspaper reports, scientists claim a bacterial toxin found in vegetables such as beetroot, potatoes, carrots, turnips and parsnips can lead to a 30 per cent higher risk of diabetes in children who are genetically predisposed to the disease.

Drawing their conclusions from tests on mice, the team from the International Diabetes Institute and Melbourne's Monash University say the toxin in infected vegetables can find its way to the foetus and damage cells in the pancreas, which affects its ability to produce insulin. Without insulin, the body is unable to process sugar.

But local experts said the researchers had jumped to conclusions and reassured pregnant women that there was no need to be concerned about eating potatoes and other kinds of vegetables, provided they were washed and peeled properly.

'First, the research makes a lot of assumptions and as yet there is no direct link drawn [from the mice] to humans,' said Edmund Li Tsze-shing, an associate professor in nutrition at the University of Hong Kong's Department of Zoology. 'Second, there has to be a genetic predisposition and this only applies to a very small percentage [of people].

'This [research] will stir up some argument, but that is not to say that you shouldn't eat vegetables,' he said.

The 'type 1' diabetes identified in the research, previously known as 'juvenile diabetes' also accounts for less than 5 or 10 per cent of all diabetes cases in Hong Kong, with between 90 to 95 per cent being cases of 'adult onset' or 'type 2' cases.