Contents:
- Medical Video: The Benefits of Sweet Potatoes
- Various health problems that can be helped by sweet potatoes
- 1. Diabetes
- 2. Blood pressure
- 3. Cancer
- 4. Immune and anti-inflammatory
- 5. Heart health
- 6. Vision
Medical Video: The Benefits of Sweet Potatoes
The benefits of sweet potatoes for health are not only limited to making a full stomach. It contains more than 400% of your daily needs for vitamin A, as well as fiber and potassium in one medium-sized yam. It has more natural sugar than potatoes, but with fewer calories. According to LiveScience, one medium-sized sweet potato (130 gr) has calories of 100 calories with zero calories from fat. Various studies suggest increasing the consumption of sweet potatoes to reduce various diseases. Let's look at the following benefits of sweet potatoes for health.
Various health problems that can be helped by sweet potatoes
1. Diabetes
Sweet potatoes have a low glycemic index scale (food speed into blood sugar), and recent research shows that they can also reduce blood sugar and insulin resistance in diabetics. Fiber in sweet potatoes also makes a big difference. Research has shown that type 1 diabetics who eat foods high in fiber have low blood glucose levels. For people with type 2 diabetes, they will have progress in blood sugar levels, lipids, and insulin.
A medium-sized yam has 6 grams of fiber. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that women should consume as much as 21-25 grams of fiber per day and men as much as 30-38 grams per day, which most people do not achieve.
2. Blood pressure
Maintaining low sodium intake is very important for lowering blood pressure, but increasing potassium intake is equally important. Medium-sized yams contain 542 mg of potassium. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, there are less than 2% of adults in the US who have fulfilled a potassium intake of 4,700 mg per day. In addition, a high intake of potassium is associated with a 20% reduction in the risk of death from any cause.
3. Cancer
According to Laura Flores, a nutritionist in San Diego, orange sweet potato has been shown to have anti-carcinogenic properties. NIH also reports that several studies have shown beta-carotene can reduce the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women and ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women. However, purple sweet potato may be more effective against cancer compared to orange sweet potato. "Purple sweet potato has been shown to have a better cancer fighting ability, with a positive effect on the development of cancer cells," Flores said.
Research conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health Department of Nutrition also says that foods rich in beta-carotene can play an important role in prostate cancer among young men. Beta-carotene has also been shown to have a relationship in contrast to the development of colon cancer in the Japanese population.
4. Immune and anti-inflammatory
"Because of the color pigment vitamins, sweet potatoes have high anti-inflammatory benefits," Flores said. One sweet potato contains about half of the recommended daily vitamin C intake per day. Vitamins A and E also support a healthy immune system and also strengthen antioxidants to fight disease. While orange sweet potatoes contain more vitamin A, purple sweet potatoes are packed with antioxidant anthocyanins which are responsible for making red, blue and purple in fruits and vegetables. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, antioxidants related to pigments have anti-inflammatory properties that are beneficial for overall health and also help reduce inflammatory disorders.
5. Heart health
Sweet potatoes contain a source of vitamin B6, which can destroy homocysteine, a substance that contributes to hardening of the arteries and arteries, according to Harvard University School of Public Health. Potassium in sweet potatoes is also beneficial for your heart, because it can reduce blood pressure by maintaining fluid balance, as explained by the American Heart Association. Potassium is also an important electrolyte that helps regulate your heart rate.
6. Vision
According to Jill Koury, MD., An ophthalmologist, vitamin A deficiency causes the outer eye photoreceptor segments to deteriorate, thereby damaging normal vision. Taking beta-carotene to replace vitamin A deficiency can improve vision. In addition, antioxidant vitamins C and E in sweet potatoes have been shown to support eye health and prevent degenerative damage.
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