Sweet Potatoes

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3 Jan 2021

Are sweet potatoes healthy? Yes! Sweet potatoes are one of the Top 10 Healthy Foods by Mayo Clinic!

May we eat them in abundance? The Okinawans (one of the Blue Zones populations) derived a whopping 69% of their calories from purple sweet potatoes!

Are pigmented sweet potatoes better? Yes. In videos below, Dr Greger mentions that purple tubers are better than other colors like white or yellow. The Okinawans consumed large quantites of purple sweet potatoes. In this video, Dr Greger explains:

But, color is what we’re looking for when picking out varieties at the supermarket. “The intensity of the yellow or orange flesh color of the sweet potato is directly correlated to its nutritional content.” So, the more intense, the better. Though, if you really want intensity, “sweet potato varieties range not only from white to yellow and orange, but to pink and “very to deep purple”—the natural pigments of which may have special anticancer effects of their own.

Flesh vs skin: In Sweet Potatoes, Dr Greger explains:

… regardless of the cooking method, keep on the skin as its peel has nearly ten times the antioxidant power as the inner flesh (on a per-weight basis), giving them an antioxidant capacity approaching that of blueberries.

… remember that a sweet potato's nutritional content is tied directly to the intensity of its color. The more yellow or orange its flesh, the healthier it may be, and purple sweet potatoes are even healthier!

Articles by Dr Greger:

(2015) Is it Better to Bake, Boil, or Steam Sweet Potatoes?
(2015) Sweet Potato Proteins vs Cancer

Videos by Dr Greger:

(2015) The Okinawa Diet: Living to 100

(5 mins) Transcript. At offset 1:50, this video shows a pie chart indicating that the Okinawans derived 69% of their calories from purple sweet potatoes! Wow!

(2018) Anti-Cancer Potential of Sweet Potato Proteins

(3 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "Sweet potatoes are not just one of the healthiest and cheapest sources of nutrition; the predominant protein is a type of protease inhibitor that may have cancer-fighting properties."

(2018) The Best Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes

(3 mins) Transcript. Excerpts:

What’s the best way to cook sweet potatoes? Boiling may actually best retain the antioxidant power of sweet potatoes, compared to roasting and steaming. If you compare baking to boiling, microscopically, boiling helps thin out the cell walls and gelatinize the starch, which may enhance the bioavailability of nutrients, while at the same time the glycemic index of boiled sweet potatoes was found to be only about half that of baking or roasting. So, boiled gives one less of a blood sugar spike.

Should we eat the skin too? Yes!

Make sure to keep the skin on, though. The peel of a sweet potato has nearly ten times the antioxidant power as the flesh—an antioxidant capacity “comparable [to] that of blueberries,” though it really takes a hit when baked, wiping out over two-thirds, whereas microwaving or boiling was comparatively much gentler. The same with the rest of the sweet potato. Baking can cause an 80% drop in vitamin A levels—twice as much as boiling. So, “from a nutritional standpoint, boiling rather than baking can be recommended for sweet potato cooking.”

Best way to eat?

Boiling may be best, but sweet potatoes are so incredibly healthy, the best way to prepare them is whichever way will get you to eat the most of them—with the exception of deep frying, which can lead to the formation of acrylamide, a potential human carcinogen.

(2009) Toxins in Sweet Potatoes?

(1 min) Transcript. Sweet potatoes are better than potatoes. Dr Greger reminds us that sweet potatoes are ranked as one of the top ten healthiest foods on the planet by Mayo Clinic! Tip by Dr Greger: "If you insist on continuing to eat white potatoes, peel them, as that removes about three-quarters of the toxins."

Misc Videos

(5 mins, 2018) The Okinawan Sweet Potato

Dr Van Dyken summarizes the health benefits of the Okinawan sweet potato.

(8 mins) Guide to Sweet Potatoes!

A good video that explains different types of sweet potatoes found in USA. But please don't use EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) as suggested in the video; in Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines, we diligently avoid oil.

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