GREAT BENEFITS OF EATING SWEET POTATO

maybe you’ve been eating sweet potato or not and you had no idea what exactly you get from it, this article will bridge the gab of your confusion, and enlighten you to understand how important it is for you to consume sweet potato

Sweet potato is not just only sweeten your taste buds but also good for your cardiovascular health! This happens to be one of my favourite starch source…

Botanically, this starch-rich tuber plant is a dicotyledon, belonging to the family of Convolvulaceae, and named botanically as Ipomoea batatas. Its crunchy, starch-rich flesh is rich source of flavonoid pigment anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber that are essential for optimal health.

Sweet potato is grown throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions. The crop just requires sufficient water and little attention for their successful cultivation. The tuberous root features oblong/elongated shape with tapering ends and has smooth outer skin whose color ranges from red, purple, brown, and white, depending upon the variety.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF SWEET POTATO

They are high in vitamin B6.

Vitamin B6 helps reduce the chemical homocysteine in our bodies. Homocysteine has been linked with degenerative diseases, including heart attacks.

health benefit of sweet potato

They are a good source of vitamin C.

While most people know that vitamin C is important to help ward off cold and flu viruses, few people are aware that this crucial vitamin plays an important role in bone and tooth formation, digestion, and blood cell formation. It helps accelerate wound healing, produces collagen which helps maintain skin’s youthful elasticity, and is essential to helping us cope with stress. It even appears to help protect our body against toxins that may be linked to cancer.

They are a source of potassium.

Potassium is one of the important electrolytes that help regulate heartbeat and nerve signals. Like the other electrolytes, potassium performs many essential functions, some of which include relaxing muscle contractions, reducing swelling, and protecting and controlling the activity of the kidneys.

Sweet potatoes do not cause blood sugar spikes.

Sweet potatoes are naturally sweet-tasting but their natural sugars are slowly released into the bloodstream, helping to ensure a balanced and regular source of energy, without the blood sugar spikes linked to fatigue and weight gain.

Sweet potatoes help ward off cancer and protect against the effects of aging.

Their rich orange color indicates that they are high in carotenoids like beta carotene and other carotenoids, which is the precursor to vitamin A in your body.  Carotenoids help strengthen our eyesight and boost our immunity to disease, they are powerful antioxidants that help ward off cancer and protect against the effects of aging.

Studies at Harvard University of more than 124,000 people showed a 32 percent reduction in risk of lung cancer in people who consumed a variety of carotenoid-rich foods as part of their regular diet. Another study of women who had completed treatment for early stage breast cancer conducted by researchers at Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) found that women with the highest blood concentrations of carotenoids had the least likelihood of cancer recurrence.

Contains saturated fat

Sweet potato is one of the high calorie starch foods (provide 90 calories/100 g vis a vis to 70 calories/100 g in potato). The tuber, however, contains no saturated fats or cholesterol, and is rich source of dietary fiber, anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals than potatoes.

Its calorie content mainly comes from starch.

Sweet potato has higher amylose to the amylopectin ratio than that in potato. Amylose raises the blood sugar levels rather slowly on comparison to simple fruit sugars (fructose, glucose etc) and therefore, recommended as a healthy food item even in diabetes.

Provides Vital Minerals 

Sweet potato provides good amount of vital minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and potassium that are very essential for enzyme, protein, and carbohydrate metabolism.

The green part is as well a source of nutrition

Sweet potato top greens are indeed more nutritious than the tuber itself. Weight per weight, 100 g of fresh leaves carry more iron, vitamin C, folates, vitamin K, and potassium but less sodium than its tuber..