by Ronnie Dauber

Created on: September 22, 2008   Last Updated: April 20, 2009

Most of us recognize the sweet potato as being one of those delicious foods that we prepare for holiday meals, but did you know that there are high nutritional values to the sweet potato? The sweet potato not only offers a large range of nutrients for our daily diets, but it is also used as a preventative medicine for several diseases.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

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Although they were originally native to Central America, there are over 400 varieties grown in countries all over the world. They vary in size and in colour from white to yellow, to orange, to red and to purple. But they all have roughly the same nutritional value.

The nutritional values for 100 gm of sweet potatoes is as follows:

Carbohydrates - 20.1 gm, Sugars - 4.2 gm, Dietary fiber - 3.0 gm , Fat - 0.1 gm , Protein - 1.6 gm, Vitamin A - 709 g, eta-carotene - 8509 g, Thiamin (Vitamin B1) - 0.1 mg, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) - 0.1 mg, Niacin (Vitamin B3) - 0.61 mg, Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5) - 0.8 mg, Vitamin B6 - 0.2 mg, Folate (Vitamin B9) - 11 g, Vitamin C - 2.4 mg, Calcium - 30.0 mg, Iron - 0.6 mg, Magnesium - 25.0 mg, Phosphorus - 47.0 mg, Potassium - 337 mg, Zinc - 0.3 mg, and about 90Calories.

The nutritional value of the sweet potato provides for the following health benefits:

1) Research has discovered that sweet potatoes are helpful in minimizing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

2) Studies have shown that a regular diet of sweet potatoes can help in the prevention of strokes by reducing the harmful effects of LD cholesterol and preventing blood clots.

3) There is a high level of beta-carotene in sweet potatoes that researchers have noted as being helpful in the prevention of some cancers because they fight against the free radicals.

4) It has been learned that a regular diet of sweet potatoes can be beneficial for blood purification as well as in lowering blood pressure.

5) The high dietary fibre helps to reduce the risk of constipation, diverticulosis and colon and rectal cancer.

6) A regular diet of sweet potatoes have shown to help in the healing of stomach ulcers and inflamed conditions of the colon.

7) There is a high potassium level that helps the body to maintain fluid and electrolyte balance.

8) The iron and calcium levels in the sweet potato help with proper blood flow, as well as improving bone density.

So, besides tasting great as a mashed vegetable sprinkled with a dash of nutmeg and a bit of butter, the sweet potato has nutritional values that make it one of the wise choices in our meal selections.

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