What Are The Nutritional Benefits Of Eating Sweet Potatoes?

Sweet potatoes can be a nutrient-rich part of your diet, providing a good mix of complex carbohydrates, phytochemicals, vitamins and fiber. You can store sweet potatoes for up to a month in a cool dark area, which make them a convenient staple to keep around for days when you don't want to shop. An extra benefit of sweet potatoes is their rich sweet flavor. They can be a healthy and filling comfort food in your meal without excessive added fats or sugars if baked, boiled or roasted.

What are Sweet Potatoes and Yams?

Visit the produce section in your local supermarket or organic food store, and you find a large selection of tubers labeled "sweet potatoes" or "yams." The terminology can be confusing. Real yams rarely appear in North American stores other than in Latin American groceries. They are tubers that grow on perennial herbaceous vines of the Dioscorea family in Central and South America, Africa and Asia, with flesh ranging from off-white to purple and skin color from off-white to dark brown. The sweet potato, or Ipomoea batata, is a member of the morning glory family that grows in tropical climates and has been cultivated in South America for almost 5,000 years. A pale-fleshed sweet potato was the only one commonly available in North America through mid-20th century. When grocers introduced orange-fleshed varieties, they labeled them "yams." Most of the yams you find in North American markets are actually sweet potatoes.

Varieties of Sweet Potatoes

The classic sweet potato sold in North America has pale yellow flesh and a reddish-tan skin and is closer to a regular potato in taste and texture than are most other sweet potato varieties. Garnet, jewel and beauregard "yams" have rich, sweet, flaky orange flesh and slightly warmer-toned skins. The Japanese Okinawan purple sweet potato, also grown in Hawaii, has pale skin and purple flesh.

Nutrition Facts

Typically, 100 g of sweet potatoes contains 86 calories, 1.6 g of protein, 0.05 g of fat, 20 g of carbohydrate and 3 g of fiber. Sweet potatoes are also rich in micronutrients, containing 14,187 IU of vitamin A, 2.4 mg of vitamin C, 11 mcg of folate, 0.61 mg of iron and 20 mg of calcium as well as vitamins E, K, several B vitamins and assorted minerals. Different varieties of sweet potatoes contain various types of phytochemicals.

Sweet Potato Vitamins and Fiber

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Health Canada both recommend that at least half your calories derive from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Almost every fruit or vegetable adds potentially beneficial nutrients to your diet. The fiber in sweet potatoes helps your digestion and cardiovascular health. A single sweet potato gives you several days' worth of vitamin A, which is essential for health of your skin, teeth, skeletal and soft tissue and eyes. The carotenoids in sweet potatoes have an antioxidant effect that may offer protection from the damage caused by free radicals in your body, reducing risk of certain chronic diseases and perhaps mitigating the effects of aging on certain organs.

Phytochemicals

Several small studies show that purple sweet potatoes may reduce the effects of aging on the cognitive performance of mice. According to Ronald E. Wrolstad, Ph.D., "There is considerable anecdotal and epidemiological evidence that dietary anthocyanin pigments and polyphenolics may have preventive and therapeutic roles in a number of human diseases." As Wrolstad points out, though, existing studies of the biochemical composition of many fruits and vegetables and its effect on human health is still in a preliminary stage, but the phytochemicals in all varieties of sweet potatoes have a potentially wide range of moderately beneficial effects on your health.