Sweet potatoes top the list of best vegetables that you can eat, according to a ranking created by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Organic sweet potatoes are available in the market year-round. Include one sweet potato in your meal daily and you’ll consume a portion packed with vitamins A and C and a healthy serving of fiber.
Organic Versus Conventional
The Environmental Working Group placed sweet potatoes on the “Clean 15,” a list of produce considered safe to consume from conventional farms due to low amounts of pesticide residues. Still, the USDA Pesticide Data Program reported eight pesticide residues on conventionally grown sweet potatoes in a 2008 test. Select organic sweet potatoes to ease any worries about consuming residual chemicals.
Vitamin A
A medium-sized sweet potato contains over 400 percent of the daily recommended amount of vitamin A, as reported by the USDA. The Harvard School of Public Health lists the many benefits of vitamin A, such as improving night vision and contributing to healthy bones and production of white blood cells, leading to a healthy immune response. Even after cooking, sweet potatoes maintain large amounts of beta-carotene, the precursor to vitamin A. In a 2006 publication in the “Journal of Food Composition and Analysis,” P. J. van Jaarsveld and coauthors found that sweet potatoes retained 70 to 80 percent of beta-carotene after boiling for 30 minutes.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C improves the body’s absorption of iron from leafy foods and maintains a healthy immune system. The University of Florida recommends the best method for getting the vitamin C your body needs is through consuming fruits and vegetables. Sweet potatoes are a great source of this vitamin. According to the USDA, just one sweet potato provides over one-third the daily recommended intake of vitamin C.
Fiber
A sweet potato provides 15 percent of the recommended amount of fiber per day. Fiber is often suggested for individuals on a diet, according to Colorado State University, because it has no calories and absorbs water, producing a full feeling after a meal. Fiber also prevents constipation, hemorrhoids and inflammation of pouches in the intestinal wall.
References
- Center for Science in the Public Interest: 10 Worst and Best Foods
- Ohio State University Extension: Nutrition & You … Sweet Potatoes
- “Journal of Food Composition and Analysis”; Retention of β-carotene in boiled, mashed orange-fleshed sweet potato; P.J. van Jaarsveld et al.; June 2006
- Harvard School of Public Health; The Nutrition Source: Vitamin A; 2011
- USDA; Sweet Potatoes; April 2009
- University of Florida; Facts about Vitamin C; Linda B. Bobroff, et al.; December 2010
- What’s On My Food?: Sweet Potatoes
- Colorado State University; Dietary Fiber; J. Anderson, et al.; 2010
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