Sweet
potatoes are packed with vitamins and minerals. They are rich in vitamins A, C,
B5, B6 and E, potassium and manganese. In several
studies from Africa, sweet potatoes were found to contain between 100-1,600
micrograms (RAE) of vitamin A in every 3.5 ounces—enough, on average, to meet
35% of all vitamin A needs, and in many cases enough to meet over 90% of
vitamin A needs.
Sweet potatoes come in a variety of colors ranging from the popular orange to purple, red and white. Different colored sweet potatoes have different flavors and textures.
The purple-fleshed sweet potato anthocyanin pigments—primarily peonidins and cyanidins—have important antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory properties. Particularly when passing through our digestive tract, they may be able to lower the potential health risk posed by heavy metals and oxygen radicals.
It can be helpful to include some fat in the sweet potato-containing meals if we want to enjoy the full beta-carotene benefits of this root vegetable. Recent research has shown that a minimum of 3-5 grams of fat per meal significantly increases our uptake of beta-carotene from sweet potatoes. This minimal amount of fat can be very easy to include, for example, by adding 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in.
Some nutritional benefits from sweet potatoes are easy to achieve if using steaming or boiling as cooking method. Recent studies show excellent preservation of sweet potato anthocyanins with steaming, and several studies comparing boiling to roasting have shown better blood sugar effects (including the achievement of a lower glycemic index, or GI value) with boiling.
The impact of steaming is particularly interesting, since only two minutes of steaming have been show to deactivate peroxidase enzymes that might otherwise be able to break down anthocyanins found in the sweet potato. In fact, with these peroxidase enzymes deactivated, natural anthocyanin extracts from sweet potato used for food coloring may be even more stable than synthetic food colorings. And this benefit is not limited to the food's appearance since the anthocyanins have great health benefits as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients.
While researchers have long been aware of sporamins (the storage proteins in sweet potato), only recently has research shown some of their unique antioxidant properties. The potential health benefits of the sweet potato sporamins in helping prevent oxidative damage to our cells should not be surprising since sweet potatoes produce sporamins whenever subjected to physical damage to help promote healing.
Sweet potatoes come in a variety of colors ranging from the popular orange to purple, red and white. Different colored sweet potatoes have different flavors and textures.
The purple-fleshed sweet potato anthocyanin pigments—primarily peonidins and cyanidins—have important antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory properties. Particularly when passing through our digestive tract, they may be able to lower the potential health risk posed by heavy metals and oxygen radicals.
It can be helpful to include some fat in the sweet potato-containing meals if we want to enjoy the full beta-carotene benefits of this root vegetable. Recent research has shown that a minimum of 3-5 grams of fat per meal significantly increases our uptake of beta-carotene from sweet potatoes. This minimal amount of fat can be very easy to include, for example, by adding 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in.
Some nutritional benefits from sweet potatoes are easy to achieve if using steaming or boiling as cooking method. Recent studies show excellent preservation of sweet potato anthocyanins with steaming, and several studies comparing boiling to roasting have shown better blood sugar effects (including the achievement of a lower glycemic index, or GI value) with boiling.
The impact of steaming is particularly interesting, since only two minutes of steaming have been show to deactivate peroxidase enzymes that might otherwise be able to break down anthocyanins found in the sweet potato. In fact, with these peroxidase enzymes deactivated, natural anthocyanin extracts from sweet potato used for food coloring may be even more stable than synthetic food colorings. And this benefit is not limited to the food's appearance since the anthocyanins have great health benefits as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients.
While researchers have long been aware of sporamins (the storage proteins in sweet potato), only recently has research shown some of their unique antioxidant properties. The potential health benefits of the sweet potato sporamins in helping prevent oxidative damage to our cells should not be surprising since sweet potatoes produce sporamins whenever subjected to physical damage to help promote healing.
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