Potatoes are incredibly rich in nutrients. A staple of the Inca Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries, these starchy tubers have been touted for their health benefits for centuries dating back from 8,000 BC to 5,000 B.C.
Sweet potato is a vegetable root plant that contains starch. It is large, and, as the name implies, it has a sweet taste. This vegetable is a dicotyledonous plant. Sweet potato has many health benefits. It is full of nutrients like potassium, vitamins, fiber, and many more.
There are various ways you can consume sweet potato, and it will still be beneficial to you. You can make sweet potato pancakes, boiled sweet potatoes, and many more. This article will teach you about the health benefits of sweet potato and why you should eat it.
1. Improves Your Eyesight
Sweet potato is one of the foods that, when eaten, helps improves your eyesight. It contains beta-carotene, so when consumed, the body converts it to vitamin A nutrient. The nutrient helps improve your vision and prevents night blindness. Vitamin A and Beta-carotene help you reduce the risk of any eye infection.
Consuming sweet potatoes also causes the prevention of cataracts in the eyes. Adding sweet potato into your diet will aid and improve your eyesight and vision.
2. Boosts The Immune System
Our immune system needs minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients to fight diseases. Eating sweet potatoes is one of the ways to boost the immune system. Sweet potato contains minerals like phosphorus, manganese, iron, magnesium, and calcium.
These minerals help boost and strengthen the immune system to aid performance. You also get B-complex vitamins, vitamin A, and vitamin C when you eat sweet potatoes.
It helps in boosting the body’s immune system. There are many delicious sweet potato recipes online you can copy and prepare.
3. Supports The Digestive System
The presence of soluble fiber is one of the health benefits of sweet potatoes. It helps to improve digestion and supports the digestive system. Sweet potato is a food that is high in soluble fiber, making it easy to digest and also improving digestion.
Potassium is a natural electrolyte that supports the body’s digestive system. Sweet potato contains potassium. So, when you consume sweet potato, the good bacteria in the intestine increase. So they help to prevent constipation and improve the digestive system.
4. Sweet Potatoes Boost Fertility
When one does not consume enough vitamin A, there is a high chance of infertility. Sweet potato is high in vitamin A which is an essential nutrient that boosts fertility in humans.
It is especially crucial for women who can still bear children. One of the significant causes of infertility in women is a deficiency in iron or anemia.
We should ensure we take enough food that is high in iron. Sweet potato is one of the foods that are high in iron, which, when consumed, boosts fertility at a high rate.
5. Regulation Of Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is hazardous to human health as it can lead to various diseases or death. To prevent this, we need to make sure our blood pressure is neither high nor low.
Sweet potato contains potassium and magnesium, essential nutrients in regulating blood pressure. The presence of magnesium is one of the health benefits of sweet potatoes. The nutrient prevents hypertension, which may lead to high blood pressure.
So enough consumption of sweet potatoes helps prevent hypertension and regulates blood pressure. To prevent having high or low pressure, you should include sweet potatoes in your diet.
6. Helps In Managing Diabetes
On the glycaemic index scale, sweet potatoes are on the low scale. And this implies that sugar present in sweet potatoes enters the bloodstream gradually, unlike most starchy foods that give you a sugar rush.
The steady release into the bloodstream means the blood sugar level remains balanced. Such regulation is also helpful to diabetic patients (type I and type II).
Also, sweet potato is rich in fiber, which helps manage diabetes. It also promotes insulin sensitivity that regulates sugar in the bloodstream. Magnesium, which minimizes the risks of type II diabetes, is present in sweet potatoes.
7. Helps Protect And Prevent Cancer
The Health benefits of sweet potatoes include preventing cancer. The food contains elements that impede colon cancer, gastric cancer, and breast cancer. Sweet potato is high in anthocyanin content, and essential in inhibiting cancerous cells.
Sweet potatoes also kill prostate cancer cells, so it doesn’t grow and spread to other places. Carotenoids like beta-carotene present in sweet potatoes reduce the risk of prostate cancer. People who consume sweet potatoes are less likely to get colorectal cancer.
8. Helps With Weight Management
Sweet potatoes contain pectin, major soluble, and fermentable dietary fibers. Pectin increases satiety and reduces the tendency to overeat. So people who want to reduce weight and increase hormone activities will benefit.
Consuming sweet potatoes in large quantities will increase fiber in the body. When you do this often, it results in a reduction in lower body weight.
Sweet potatoes also reduce hunger, make you feel full, and reduce the desire to eat more. It is why some experts recommend it for those who want to lose weight and keep fit.
9. Sweet Potatoes Enhance The Brain Functions
Anthocyanins are present in sweet potatoes. These help to protect the brain, reduce inflammation, and prevent free radical damage. The antioxidant properties and presence of anthocyanins improve learning and memory.
They also reduce the risk of memory loss, dementia, and mental decline by thirteen percent. Brain function can improve when you consume sweet potatoes. This makes sweet potatoes good for school-age children, teenagers, and young adults.
10. Get Healthy Hair And Skin
The Health benefits of sweet potato also include the ability to improve your hair and skin. The vegetable is rich in vitamin C and Vitamin E, which helps you have great skin and nice hair.
Oxidative stress is one reason why many people can’t have great skin or maintain healthy hair. When you consume sweet potato, you get the chance to take advantage of its antioxidant properties.
People with skin infections will also feel some relief due to the anti-bacterial properties of potatoes. If you don’t like to eat right away, there are many recipes for making sweet potatoes.Â
