Botanists and others count potatoes – including French fries – as “starchy vegetables.” The UK's National Health Service does not. Who is right? The next iteration of the US Dietary Guidelines, due out in 2025, may have the final answer because its Advisory Committee is asking the question.

The U.S. guidelines give nutritional advice by breaking food into five groups—vegetables, grains, fruit, dairy and protein. Potatoes, in all of their forms, currently fall into the vegetable group. But the Advisory Committee is considering moving them into the grains group. This move is being resisted by both the potato industry and “The Grain Chain,” a grains-industry coalition. The former group believes the helpful nutrients in potatoes, including potassium and vitamin C, make their vegetable classification appropriate. They also argue that potatoes are “gateway” vegetables that make kids, in particular, more likely to eat other vegetables if potatoes are involved. The grains group is concerned that if Americans replace some grains (like rice) with starchy vegetables (like fries) based on new guidelines, this will exacerbate nutrient shortfalls.

The nutritional science behind this issue is not as simple as it might seem. It is clear that some versions of potatoes are less healthy than others. Deep frying, for example, diminishes the health benefits of potatoes. And perhaps like corn, some kinds of potatoes should be treated differently. Under U.S. dietary guidelines, corn on the cob is considered a starchy vegetable, while cornmeal is a grain.

In the end, the Advisory Committee's goal is to make sure everyone is getting enough nutrients in their diets by eating the appropriate amount of food from each of the five groups. We will probably have to wait until 2025 to find out into which group the beloved potato lands.