Key Takeaways
- Potatoes don’t count as vegetables in some dietary guidelines.
- There’s speculation that potatoes may be reclassified as a grain in the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025–2030.
- Unlike green vegetables, potatoes are high in carbohydrates and starches. But they’re also nutrient-dense and virtually fat-free.
Americans eat more potatoes than almost any other vegetable, and these spuds are a good source of potassium and vitamin C.
Only about 10% of U.S. adults eat enough vegetables, but nutrition experts disagree on whether potatoes count toward vegetable intake because they’re high in carbohydrates, which could cause blood sugar spikes.
White potatoes, along with corn, peas, and cassava, fall under the “starchy vegetable” subcategory.
Eating vegetables of all kinds, including starchy vegetables, is a “core element” of a healthy dietary pattern, according to the guidelines. These guidelines are used to develop the USDA’s MyPlate, the modern version of the food pyramid, as well as federal nutrition programs, which have included potatoes as a vegetable in school lunches.
However, there is some speculation that potatoes may be reclassified as a grain in the dietary guideline updates in 2025.
Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council, said this decision would lead to a “chaotic outcome” when he testified before the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee in September.
“Potatoes are classified with other vegetables based on their botanical and horticultural characteristics. Therefore, a decision to incorrectly reclassify them as a grain is technically inaccurate and not grounded in any scientific metric,” Quarles told Verywell in an email.