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In addition to being a food that is prepared in various ways (dumplings, mashed, French fried or baked...), it is also appears in the form of flour or starch that is used as a thickener in industrially prepared foods.
The following foods may contain potato in its different forms:
— Potato chips and other packaged snacks: chips, Pringles...
— Pastries: desserts, cookies, cakes, creams, industrially prepared pudding (check the ingredients of homemade puddings).
— Meat loafs, meat balls, omelettes: always check the ingredients.
— Bakery products containing potato flour or starch: some types of special bread or focaccio (provides for a softer texture), whether prepared industrially or in a bakery.
— Freeze-dried products: in addition to flakes for mashed potatoes, it is also contained in fruit or vegetable powders, where the starch is used as a base for the freeze-drying process (and therefore it can also be found in some concentrated fruit juices).
— Vodka: an aquavit that is obtained from the starch after fermentation and distillation.
Other foods that may contain potato in a way that isn’t apparent:
— Industrially prepared creams: various sauces in which potato starch is used as a thickener, even in small quantities, like béchamel, desserts, puddings and gelatines. Potato starch may also be included in some industrially produced ice creams that contain mixtures of thickenings agents. The same is true for some drinks such as prepared chocolate milk and similar products.
— Products bearing the ingredient description “vegetable or cellulose thickeners”: many pharmaceutical tablets or “natural” vitamin preparations.
— Purees and industrially-made soups: in jars, bags or cans.
Alternatives
Potato and products derived from it are not too difficult to eliminate from the diet: for the most foods, it’s enough to simply read the ingredients label; for others it could be useful to substitute the industrially-made product with a homemade one in which the ingredients are guaranteed. Potato starch can be substituted with corn starch in any preparation.
Many alternative recipes can be found, together with instructions for rotational diets, in the books by Dr Attilio Speciani “Le allergie: cause, diagnosi, terapie” [Allergies: Causes, diagnosis, therapies] (with Marina Speciani Necchi), “Resistere all’inquinamento” [Surviving pollution] and “Superare le intolleranze alimentari” [Overcoming food intolerances] (with Francesca Speciani), all published by Tecniche Nuove, Milan.
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© This food profile is copyright of SMA Srl Servizi Medici Associati, Via Ariosto 28, 20145 Milan,
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. Health director: Dr Attilio Speciani, M.D., Clinical allergist and immunologist. This material may not be used or reproduced without the publisher’s permission.
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