Scientists Think Eating Potatoes May Have Changed Human Digestion Over Thousands of Years - Food & Wine

What the report says

Food & Wine reports that scientists studying human digestion have found a possible genetic signal tied to the long history of potato eating in the Andes. According to the publisher’s summary, Indigenous Peruvian Andean populations carry the highest known number of copies of AMY1, a gene involved in helping the body process starch. The report connects that finding to potatoes’ long-standing role as a staple food in the Andean diet.

The key idea is that repeated reliance on a starchy crop over many generations may have left a mark on digestion-related genes. AMY1 is commonly associated with salivary amylase, an enzyme that starts breaking down starch in the mouth, and scientists have long studied variation in AMY1 copy number as one possible example of diet-related human adaptation. Food & Wine frames the new research as suggesting that the dietary history of Andean communities may be reflected in their genomes.

The available article text does not provide the study’s sample size, publication venue, author list, or detailed methods, so the strength and scope of the finding cannot be assessed from the supplied evidence alone. More broadly, potatoes were domesticated in the Andes and remain culturally and nutritionally important across the region, making Indigenous Peruvian Andean populations a significant focus for research into how long-term food traditions and human biology may interact.

The finding matters because it adds to a wider scientific discussion about how agriculture and staple foods may have shaped human evolution. It also highlights the importance of studying diverse populations whose food histories differ from those most often represented in genetic research.