HWN Suggests

Listen to the elders: Sweet potatoes are good for you!

There are foods we just refuse to eat. It may not make a lot of sense. Maybe it’s how they look (eggplant) or initial taste (the bitterness of some greens) or simply a combination of everything at the wrong time. Whatever it is, I develop a child’s aversion to a holiday staple: sweet potatoes, for reasons I can’t quite remember, but a taste preference I haven’t developed. “Eat it. They’re good for you.” Like other forms of parental guidance, this didn’t work for me. But, as with many examples of parental guidance I rejected, they were correct. Sweet potatoes are good for you. Don’t take my word for it. Read this scientific article published in the Library of Medicine. The authors tell us that…

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 How Healthy Are Sweet Potatoes?

Their moment in the spotlight has arrived. Let’s take a look at their best qualities.

Articles of Interest

Are Sweet Potatoes Healthier Than Regular Potatoes?

While all types of potatoes are definitely nutritious—you can’t make a wrong choice!—sweet potatoes do have an abundance of cancer-fighting beta carotene and vitamin A. They may also have a lower glycemic index (GI) than ordinary potatoes, which means they release sugars more slowly into the bloodstream, helping the body to avoid glycemic spikes and crashes.

Are sweet potatoes healthy?

On the whole, sweet potatoes are an excellent addition to a balanced diet and appear to be safe for most people, with very few reported cases of allergy. However, they do contain compounds called oxalates, which bind calcium and other minerals, inhibiting their absorption. Too many oxalates in the diet may cause kidney stones. If you have existing kidney stones or are at high risk of developing them, you should minimise your consumption of high-oxalate foods.

Are Sweet Potatoes Healthy? Here’s What Experts Say

“All potatoes are nutrient-dense and healthy for you,” says Brigitte Zeitlin, a registered dietitian and owner of BZ Nutrition in New York. But sweet potatoes—the orange, yellow and purple varieties of the root vegetable—are lower in calories and carbohydrates than the average spud. They’re also higher in vitamin A, an antioxidant that boosts immunity and helps you maintain healthy skin and vision. One sweet potato provides far more than 100% of your recommended daily allotment of vitamin A, according to the USDA.

Chemical constituents and health effects of sweet potato

Sweet potatoes are becoming a research focus in recent years due to their unique nutritional and functional properties. Bioactive carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, carotenoids, anthocyanins, conjugated phenolic acids, and minerals represent versatile nutrients in different parts (tubers, leaves, stems, and stalks) of sweet potato. The unique composition of sweet potato contributes to their various health benefits, such as antioxidative, hepatoprotective, antiinflammatory, antitumor, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antiobesity, antiaging effects.

Eaten sweet potato? Then you’ve had a GM meal

If you too have eaten sweet potato you have eaten your first GM meal. Some 8,000 years ago a bacterium (Agrobacterium) inserted two of its genes into the original sweet potato DNA thus producing a GM sweet potato. These genes have been detected in some 300 varieties of “yam”; they are expressed and cause tissues like the root to swell. Domestication was probably based on root size and thus continued propagation of its GM variety.

For health, versatile sweet potato can be a good-for-you carb

People often assume sweet potatoes are a less healthy relative of the white potato because of the word “sweet” in the name and the rich flavor that develops when they’re roasted. Ounce for ounce, though, a sweet potato and a russet or other regular white potato have about the same amount of calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein.

Opinion: Why I will never, ever eat sweet potatoes. I blame my Kenyan childhood

Growing up in the 1980s and early '90s on the Kenyan Coast, I did not have the privilege to choose the foods I could eat. Rather, my parents would serve my siblings and me the food that was in season or that had survived the scorching sun, insect pests and plant diseases — harvested from their farm or purchased at the market. Most of the time, these food crops included cassava, pumpkin, the "boko boko" banana — and sweet potatoes. Plenty of sweet potatoes.

Potato or Sweet Potato: Which Is Healthier?

Neither spud is a dud, but one offers just a bit more nutrition.

Superfood of the Week: Sweet Potatoes

From sweet tater fries to sweet potato burritos, you're sure to find trendy superfood sweet potatoes popping up on restaurant menus -- and in home kitchens(!) -- everywhere. And it's no surprise: In addition to adding texture, nutrition, flavor...

Sweet Potato Is Not Simply an Abundant Food Crop

Nowadays, sweet potato (Ipomoea batata L.; Lam.) is considered a very interesting nutritive food because it is rich in complex carbohydrates, but as a tubercle, contains high amounts of health-promoting secondary metabolites.

Sweet potato memories: love 'em, rely on 'em ... hate 'em

The sweet potato evokes surprisingly strong feelings — and not just from the pro- and anti-marshmallow lobbies. It is a staple of the African diet. And Africans feel passionately about it. It kindles warm memories. It's a neglected food that deserves a higher profile because of its nutritional value. And yet some people can't stand it!

Sweet Potato To the Rescue

They are also a nutritional bonanza. Sweet potatoes are loaded with complex carbohydrates, fiber and important nutrients like beta carotene, an antioxidant that is believed to help prevent cancer. Generally speaking, the deeper the orange color, the greater the amount of beta carotene.

Sweet potatoes and their nutritional benefits

Sweet potatoes with white or yellow flesh are grown in several provinces of Burkina Faso. It is the seventh most important food crop in Burkina Faso, after cereals and vegetables, and is the most important root and tuber crop. It is a crop with many nutritional benefits. For this reason, nutritionists strongly recommend its consumption.

Sweet Potatoes vs. Regular Potatoes: Which Is the Healthier Carb Source?

Sweet and regular potatoes can be healthy additions to a balanced diet. They have similar fat, calorie, and protein content and offer beneficial plant compounds like antioxidants. However, sweet potatoes may be slightly more nutritious, thanks to their high vitamin A content. Sweet potatoes also contain a bit more fiber, which means they may not impact blood sugar levels as much.

Sweet Potatoes: Nutrition Wrapped in Vivid Flavors

Sweet potatoes have a low glycemic index (actual yams do not), and they’re an excellent source of vitamin A, in the form of beta carotene, and vitamin C. Sweet potatoes also provide vitamin B6, potassium, fiber, manganese, copper and iron. When you see the nutritional values accompanying this week’s recipes, you’ll find that sweet potatoes offer all of this at a relatively low caloric price.

The Sweet Potato Is Everybody's Friend, But a Fleeting One

The sweet potato is high in fiber and vitamins A and C, but "its image hasn't yet made the changeover from the poor man's food to the intelligent food of choice," says Jack Osman. A health science professor at Towson University in Maryland, he has had little luck interesting food companies in his purple passion pie and other sweet-potato confections.

These Sweet Potato Nutrition Facts Are Seriously Sweet

If Steve Harvey were to ask Family Feud contestants what the most universally loved food was, sweet potatoes would most definitely be listed as one of the top answers. After all, they're incredibly versatile, become crispy on the outside yet creamy on the inside when roasted to perfection, and have a slightly sweet flavor that keeps you coming back bite after bite. But there's more to these orange taters than just a satisfying taste and texture.

What's so Sweet about Sweet Potatoes?

There are multiple reasons the sweet potato gets so much attention. Besides being widely consumed during the Thanksgiving holiday, the sweet potato ranks number one on the 10 Best Foods list published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. George Washington, back in the 1700’s, was thought to have grown sweet potatoes on his farm in Virginia. Sweet potatoes are jammed-packed full of nutrition, widely available at a decent price, easy to store, and you can even purchase a National Sweet Potato Awareness Month t-shirt on popular internet shopping sites. Remaining popular for hundreds of years, the sweet potato continues to be a Fall favorite for many!

Why a Yam Is Not a Sweet Potato

The tuber confusion traces its roots back at least over a century, explains Joss Fong for Vox, although no one knows exactly when or how the it began. But as Fong explains, it could be that Africans forced into the American slave trade first referred to sweet potatoes as yams because of those roots' similarities.

Why America Is Growing The Most Sweet Potatoes Since WWII

Fast-forward to the 2000s when the sweet potato began its ascension. One big reason: the fad diet. For anyone on the South Beach Diet, Paleo diet or Atkins diet, the hearty sweet potato was a godsend. Even TV personalities like Dr. Oz highlighted the magic of the vegetable.

Why the Humble Sweet Potato Won the World Food Prize

Researchers are helping to fight malnutrion and childhood blindness in Africa with new varieties of starchy, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes

World Food Prize Winners: Why Sweet Potato Color Matters

Cutting-edge science and a smart education campaign lead to better nutrition and healthier eyes for those at risk of Vitamin A deficiency.

Yam Dunk: The Rise and Rise of the Sweet Potato

Once reserved for holiday meals, sweet potato has ventured farther afield, as consumers have embraced it in recent years as a purportedly more nutritious, tastier alternative to regular potatoes. Now food marketers are turbocharging the trend, adding it to an exploding variety of products, many of which don’t traditionally contain any sort of potato.

Resources

The Nutrition Source

Unlike a potato (edible tubers of the nightshade family), the sweet “potato” is a large edible root within the morning glory family. They’re also different from yams, which are edible tubers within the lily family and native to Africa and Asia. Chances are the “yams” found in your local supermarket are actually a variety of sweet potato. True yams are distinguishable by their blackish/brown, bark-like skin and white or purple-toned flesh.