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Sweet potatoes aren’t just a tasty Thanksgiving dinner side dish. These orange, white, or purple root vegetables are chock full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. According to TIME, sweet potatoes contain all the healthy benefits of regular potatoes with something extra.
These nutritional gems are grown all over the world and available fresh or canned. When buying sweet potatoes, pick out the ones with the most vibrant colors because the darker the color, the higher the nutritional content.
Sweet potatoes are very easy to cook, just steam, roast, boil, or bake. You can serve the veggie whole in the skin, sliced, mashed, or incorporated into many different healthy dishes and some sweet holiday recipes too. Add sweet potatoes to your diet and reap these six super health benefits.
Highly Nutritional
Sweet potatoes are a super source of Vitamins A, C, and B6 as well as an excellent source of protein, dietary fiber, manganese, potassium, pantothenic acid, and copper, according to Healthline. The orange – the most common – and purple varieties are rich in carotenoids – an antioxidant – that protect your body from free radicals and the damage they cause to your cells.
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Promotes Digestive Health
The fiber (soluble and insoluble) and antioxidants contained in sweet potatoes are good for gut health. Both types of fiber cannot be digested and remain in your digestive tract and this helps prevent constipation. But fiber rich diets, Healthline suggests, may also have the additional benefit of lowering your risk of colon cancer.
A 2018 study found that the antioxidants found in sweet potatoes help promote the growth of healthy gut bacteria that may lower the risk of IBS and infections.
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May Help Heart Health
Potassium rich sweet potatoes may aid in regulating blood pressure by reducing sodium in the blood, according to TIME. This in turn helps to maintain heart health. But there’s more, sweet potatoes could help you lower your LDT or bad cholesterol levels.
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Good for Diabetics
While high-carbohydrate foods can be problematic for diabetics, according to SFGATE, this is not the case for sweet potatoes because the nutritional compounds found in this root vegetable could help to control blood sugar. In fact, a one-third cup serving of sweet potatoes contains a large amount of dietary fiber which doesn’t raise blood sugar whatsoever. Sticking to small portions of the orange spuds and balancing meals with proteins are the key to controlling blood sugar spikes.
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May Boost Your Immune System
The beta carotene which gives sweet potatoes the bright orange color, is converted into vitamin A in your body. This vitamin is crucial for a healthy immune system, explains Healthline, and sweet potatoes contain more than 100 percent of the daily requirement of vitamin A.
This same vitamin aids in gut health and that plays an important role in your overall health. A study found that vitamin A deficiencies increase intestinal inflammation and reduce the body’s antibody responses. Adding this essential vitamin helps to reduce gut inflammation and restore antibody responses.
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Aids Eye Health and Vision
The beta carotene found In sweet potatoes is called the “color of health” by Wake Internal Medicine Consultants. That’s because vitamin A helps to prevent dry eyes, reduce eye infections, and aid in night vision.
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