Bananas and potatoes each provide B-complex vitamins and small amounts of other vitamins without an abundance of calories or fat. Overall, a potato is richer in vitamins and other essential nutrients. Adding butter, sour cream or gravy to a potato increases its fat and caloric content significantly, so use these toppings sparingly to get maximum health benefits from potatoes.
A large banana and a small potato weigh about the same amount, but a potato offers more vitamin content per calorie than a banana. A banana has 121 calories, 1.5 grams of protein and 3.5 grams of fiber, while a potato has 134 calories, 3.6 grams of protein and 3.2 grams of fiber. Bananas are significantly higher in sugar, with 16.5 grams per banana, compared to 1.5 grams of sugar in a potato.
B-complex vitamins are crucial for optimizing your metabolism. They help your body convert protein, fat and carbohydrates into energy. A banana and a potato are similar in B-vitamin content overall. Although either food gives you less than one-tenth of your recommended daily intake for niacin, folate and riboflavin, a potato provides more niacin and folate than a banana, but a banana is richer in riboflavin than a potato. Either food gives you more than one-third of the vitamin B-6 you need daily.
Antioxidant Vitamins and Vitamin K
Bananas and potatoes are not high in antioxidant vitamins, but they offer small, supplemental amounts of them. Either food provides about 11.5 milligrams of vitamin C, one-seventh of your daily requirement for that nutrient, and trace amounts of vitamin A and E. If you are trying to increase your intake of antioxidant vitamins, berries and citrus fruits are preferable. Potatoes have four times as much vitamin K as bananas, but still less than 1 percent of your recommended daily intake.
The potato, which is grown underground, naturally provides more minerals than a banana. A potato gives you about one-seventh of your recommended daily intake for magnesium, phosphorus and potassium, minerals that benefit your bones, nerve function and muscles. A banana provides nearly as much magnesium as a potato, but only about one-third as much phosphorus and a little more than half as much potassium. A potato has more than four times as much iron as a banana, with 1.5 milligrams of iron, compared to .35 milligrams of iron in a banana.
- potato image by Alex White from Fotolia.com