Health Benefits of Sweet Potatoes
Many holiday meals around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years season feature sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are native to South America and are distant relatives of white potatoes (Solanum tuberosum). Sweet potatoes were brought by the Polynesians from South America to Hawaii, New Guinea, New Zealand and other Pacific Islands during the period 700 to 1,000 AD. Sweet potatoes are now grown all over the world in most moist tropical and temperate regions. Sweet potatoes are especially popular in southern parts of the USA. Sweet potatoes are also easy to grow in home gardens.
Sweet potatoes are very nutritious. They are a gold mine of beta-carotene (a form of vitamin A) with one medium sweet potato providing about twice the recommended daily allowance for vitamin A. Sweet potatoes are a good source of fiber, b-vitamins, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron.
Sweet potatoes contain several phytochemicals which are helpful to type 2 diabetics. Research published in the July 2008 issue of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism has reported that type 2 diabetic patients who consume sweet potatoes or sweet potato extracts daily have significantly lower blood sugar control (as measured by fasting blood sugar levels and glycosylated hemoglobin in the blood) as compared to type 2 diabetics who do not consume sweet potatoes or their extracts.
Other research with both humans and animals have reported that high consumption of sweet potatoes have been associated of significantly lower rates of several forms of cancer including kidney and lung cancers. Additional human and animal research has found that sweet potato consumption has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties which protect tissues from damage.
Sweet potatoes can be prepared in a number of delicious ways including baking, boiling, mashing and steaming. The greens of sweet potatoes can also be eaten raw or steamed. The author enjoys eating sliced and baked sweet potatoes with a small amount of butter. Sweet potatoes are naturally sweet when cooked and should require no additional sugar. Avoid sweet potato or yam dishes with added sugar, molasses or corn syrup added. Throw out any old sweet potatoes with visible mold growth. Sweet potatoes are fairly high in carbohydrates and so should not been eaten in large quantities in people with active yeast problems.
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