7 Reasons You Should Be Adding Sweet Potatoes to Your Diet

Sweet potatoes are a type of root vegetable that people have been growing and eating for thousands of years. These underground, starchy parts of the plant come from the Convolvulaceae family, and it’s believed they first appeared in the regions of South and Central America. Today, farmers around the world cultivate over 400 different kinds of sweet potatoes. You can easily serve them as a tasty side dish or include them as a nutritious ingredient in many different recipes. Beyond their delicious flavor, sweet potatoes offer a wide array of advantages for your well-being. From helping to keep your blood sugar levels steady to working against swelling in the body and even playing a role in managing your weight, let’s explore some compelling reasons why you might want to make sweet potatoes a regular part of your diet.

Helping to Calm Inflammation in the Body

Research has indicated that sweet potatoes, particularly those with a vibrant purple color, possess compounds that can help fight inflammation within the body. The orange varieties are also a fantastic source of beta-carotene. Your body can turn this beta-carotene into vitamin A, which acts as a powerful antioxidant and can help reduce inflammation. In fact, the orange-skinned types can provide a remarkable 400% of the vitamin A your body needs each day. To help your body absorb this vitamin A more effectively, it can be beneficial to enjoy your sweet potatoes with a little bit of olive oil or another healthy fat.

Packed with Important Nutrients

Sweet potatoes are a treasure trove of essential nutrients that are vital for maintaining good health. These include minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as important B-vitamins such as folate and choline. Calcium plays a key role in building and keeping your bones and teeth strong. It may also be helpful for maintaining healthy nails and hair, especially for women going through menopause. Magnesium has antioxidant properties and contributes to the regulation of healthy blood pressure. Phosphorus is important for helping your body balance and utilize other minerals and vitamins, such as iodine, zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D. Folate is particularly beneficial for women who are pregnant. Sweet potatoes also contain beta-carotene, which, as mentioned earlier, acts as an antioxidant and is good for keeping your eyes healthy.

Potentially Supporting Your Weight Management Goals

Sweet potatoes contain a type of starch called resistant starch, which your body doesn’t fully digest. One study suggested that this kind of starch can increase the release of certain peptides in your body. These peptides send signals that can make you feel full, which may help in controlling your appetite. Additionally, these peptides might also play a role in decreasing the amount of fat stored in your body. Maintaining a healthy weight is important for overall well-being, as being overweight is a common factor that can increase the risk of developing conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Therefore, incorporating foods like sweet potatoes, which may assist with weight management, can be a positive step.

Contributing to Healthy Blood Sugar Levels

Sweet potatoes are a good source of fiber, which means they are digested more slowly by the body, making them a “slow-burning” starch. This fiber helps the intestines absorb sugar at a steadier pace, which can help prevent rapid spikes in your blood sugar levels. They also contain a protein called adiponectin, which is produced by fat cells and circulates in the bloodstream. People who have trouble processing insulin often have lower levels of adiponectin. One study indicated that “higher levels of this protein were monotonically associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes”. Foods that are rich in fiber, like sweet potatoes, can be helpful in regulating blood sugar, and just one cup of these vegetables provides about 4 grams of fiber.

Promoting Good Eye Health

The vibrant orange color of sweet potatoes comes from their high content of beta-carotene. As we’ve discussed, our bodies convert this beta-carotene into vitamin A, which is crucial for maintaining healthy vision. Vitamin A is involved in the production of the light-sensing receptors in your eyes, which are essential for clear sight. Sweet potatoes also provide anthocyanins, which, according to one study, may help keep your eyes properly moisturized and reduce eye fatigue.

May Offer Protection Against Heavy Metals and Certain Cancers

These tasty root vegetables are also packed with anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants. These compounds may have the ability to bind to heavy metals in the body and help in their removal. Furthermore, anthocyanins have shown potential in slowing down the growth of cancer cells in laboratory studies involving breast, colon, bladder, and stomach cancer. While studies using animals have suggested that this antioxidant may be effective in fighting colon cancer, more research is needed to confirm these effects on human cancer cells.

Potentially Contributing to a Healthy Heart

The fiber content found in sweet potatoes can also play a role in lowering cholesterol levels in the body. This happens because the fiber can bind to bile acids in your gut. To replace these bile acids, the liver then needs to use cholesterol to create more. As a result of this process, excess cholesterol can be removed from the bloodstream. This action may contribute to improved heart health, as high blood cholesterol is a significant risk factor for developing heart disease.

Things to Keep in Mind

While sweet potatoes offer many wonderful health benefits, it’s generally best to enjoy them in moderation as part of a balanced diet. This is because they contain a fair amount of oxalates, which are substances that could potentially increase the risk of developing kidney stones in some individuals. If you have a history of kidney stones, it might be wise to limit your intake of vegetables that are higher in oxalates. To potentially reduce any risks, you could also try combining sweet potatoes with other types of vegetables or mixed greens and make sure to drink plenty of water.