Washington, Apr 12: A new research has suggested that consumption of white potatoes (non-fried) by children does not displace other vegetables from their meals.

Instead, it makes their diet rich in nutrients and leads to higher overall diet quality.

White potatoes are significantly higher in potassium, fiber and vitamin C.

Both potassium and fiber were identified as nutrients of concern in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, released February 2011.

"Potatoes belong in the diet. Children who consume white potatoes have more nutrient-dense diets, overall, and they actually eat more of other vegetables," said lead researcher Adam Drewnowski. "There were no differences in the prevalence of overweight or obesity between children who did and did not consume potatoes."

Researchers studied more than 11,500 children ages 5-18 years of age using data from four cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2008. The data set included information on more than 57,000 individual meals in which the white potatoes could be baked, boiled, mashed or roasted but not fried. Separate analyses were conducted for lunch-time and dinner-time meals and at-home and away-from home, including school lunches.

The study showed that children''s weekday lunches, which included white potatoes, generally had more other vegetables than did weekday lunches without white potatoes.

The research will be presented this week at The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Conference in Washington, D. C. (ANI)