Sweet potatoes pack a nutritional punch and come loaded with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. All of its parts serve our well-being and fight disease by keeping cancer at bay, helping manage diabetes, boosting immunity and guarding prostate health. They are a heart and waist-friendly vegetable, improve our skin and even protect our peepers.<\/p>\n
Loaded with fiber, vitamins and minerals, the starchy, sweet-tasting root vegetable called sweet potato has more health benefits than you could imagine. While most of them come with thin, brown skin and orange flesh, there are some varieties that are white, purple or yellow in color. You can eat sweet potatoes whole or peeled. The leaves of the plant are edible too. In fact, there are many health benefits to sweet potato leaves as well.<\/p>\n
Scientifically known as\u00a0Ipomoea batatas<\/em> and kamote in some countries, sweet potatoes are among the most nutritious subtropical and tropical vegetables. Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6. Potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and phosphorus are some other nutrients found in this vegetable. It is a staple food source for many indigenous populations in Central and South Americas, Ryukyu Island, Africa, the Caribbean, the Maori people, Hawaiians, and Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n Read on to know more about the goodness of sweet potato.<\/p>\n Every part of the sweet potato plant is useful to shoo away cancer. Polysaccharides from purple sweet potato flesh are potential natural antioxidant and antitumor agents that can be used as drugs or functional food ingredients.<\/p>\n Sweet potato leaf is regularly consumed in Taiwan and a study reported that a diet rich in vitamin A, alpha-carotene, and beta-carotene entailed a reduced risk for lung cancer. In conclusion, higher consumption of vitamin A-rich vegetables, especially sweet potato leaves might provide potential protection from lung cancer.3<\/sup><\/p>\n The antioxidant-rich peel contains constituents that can serve as dietary components to prevent the development of different types of cancer. These include cancer cell lines of the head and neck, breast, colon, and ovaries. So next time you feast on sweet potatoes, don\u2019t toss the peels in the bin.<\/p>\nKeeps Cancer At Bay<\/h2>\n