As we know, however, people don’t always stick to recommended serving sizes—particularly in the United States. “We supersize everything,” says Walter Willett, the study’s co-author and a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. So if you’re eating one heaping pile of fries once a week, you might still need to listen up.
(Diet soda might be making you hungrier.)
Portioning can help. Johanna Lampe, a registered dietician and experimental nutritionist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, argues potatoes may be easier than other foods to eyeball to make sure you have the right portion. “French fries, typically eaten as a discrete component, may be even more accurately quantified,” she says.
While no number is “safe” Mousavi says, it’s clear “the more you eat, the steeper that risk gets.”
Are sweet potato fries still safe?
While the study didn’t focus on sweet potatoes specifically, mixed research suggests they do likely have a lower glycemic index. When we break down low glycemic index foods, the glucose enters our bloodstream more gradually. Still, they’re carbohydrates, and might increase diabetes risk if eaten in large quantities, Willett says. Oil, fat, and salt also play a role in risk. Overall, more research is needed.
Dining and Cooking