Does the link between white potatoes and diabetes extend to non-fried potatoes without butter or sour cream? The trouble for white potatoes began in 2006, when the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which had followed the diets and diseases of tens of thousands of women for 20 years, found that greater potato intake was associated with a greater likelihood of getting type 2 diabetes. Okay, but wait. Of the hundred or so pounds of potatoes Americans eat every year, most are in the deep-fried form of potato chips or French fries. What happened when they looked specifically at mashed or baked potatoes?  They found the same link with diabetes. Okay, but what might potato eaters eat more of? I’ll give you a hint by rephrasing that as: what might meat-and-potatoes people eat more of? Indeed, people who ate more potatoes ate more meat, and we know that animal protein on its own is associated with increased diabetes risk. But the researchers tried to statistically adjust for that and still found increased risk with potatoes….