New Delhi, May 10 -- For years, the potato has been one of the most misunderstood foods, dismissed by wellness culture as a "bad carb," a supposed culprit behind weight gain, insulin spikes and metabolic woes. Yet new research, and medical experts are offering a newer, more nuanced perspective: the problem, it seems, was never the potato itself, but how we cook and consume it.

Dr. Vimal Pahuja, a metabolic physician at Dr. LH Hiranandani Hospital in Mumbai, says, "A partial truth has been made to look like an absolute truth, but with potatoes context matters." Large cohort studies, he points out, show the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is significantly higher with French fries, not with boiled, baked, or mashed potatoes once factors ...