Are Sweet Potatoes The Missing Ingredient In Your Diet?
by Dr Chen Tai Ho | May 23, 2015
Hi guys, I hope you all have had a tremendous week and are having a wonderful weekend with friends and family. For today’s topic, I want to look at a food ingredient that is fairly common here, and is jam-packed with nutrients – sweet potatoes. But why should you choose them over regular potatoes?
What Nutrients Can Be Found In Sweet Potato Nutrient?
The most common type of sweet potato we can find here are the purple ones, and these are particularly high in antioxidants. However, the orange and yellow sweet potato contain more vitamin A due to the carotenoids. Sweet potatoes also come in white and pink, but the orange and purple ones are the easiest to find.
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| There are several types of sweet potatoes available (pic from lisavalantine.blogspot.com) |
In general, sweet potatoes contain high levels of vitamin A, vitamin B5 and B6, and in the orange variety, high in carotenoids as well. In addition, sweet potatoes do not contain any fat, are low in sodium and has a lower calorie count than regular potatoes!
The US Food and Drug Administration suggest that one large sweet potato contains over 100% of the daily recommended intake of vitamin A! Although nowhere near the daily recommended intake of vitamin A, you can also get plenty of vitamin C, manganese, copper, potassium and fibre from one sweet potato as well. This means that sweet potato is one of the best ways to get many nutrients at once!
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| This can replace those unhealthy snacks consumed in front of the TV! (pic from smittenkitchen.com) |
And if you generally don’t like vegetables because of its taste, sweet potatoes offer a healthy, tasty alternative due to its ability to blend into so many dishes. However, do note that it should not replace vegetables completely!
What About The Health Benefits?
The high number of antioxidants is extremely beneficial for your health, helping to reduce the likelihood of developing degenerative diseases, which also includes heart attacks. This is because vitamin B6 helps to reduce the level of homocysteine in our bodies, which is linked to degenerative diseases.
Vitamin C is also crucial to your body’s general health as it helps to combat the common cold and flu. However, it is also important for the formation of blood cells, as well as bones and teeth. Vitamin C has also been shown to help reduce stress levels, while it may even offer protection against some carcinogenic toxins. It is also helps to speed up the healing of wounds as it induces the production of collagen in your body. This collagen helps your skin retain its elasticity and youthful appearance.
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| Not only are sweet potatoes delicious, they also have a ton of health benefits! (pic from noshon.it) |
In addition, the high number of carotenoids also helps to improve your eyesight and increases your body’s immunity against various types of diseases. As carotenoids are powerful antioxidants, it can help reduce the likelihood of cancer as well as slowing down signs of aging.
This is backed up by a Harvard study that included 124,000 people; those that consumed a variety of foods rich in carotenoids were up to 32% less likely to develop lung cancer in the future, compared to those that did not.
Time to add sweet potatoes to your weekly grocery shopping list then?
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