The Humble Sweet Potato - It's Not Just for Thanksgiving Dinner

Sweet Potatoes are native to Central America and are among the oldest vegetables known to man. The orange-fleshed tubers we all love to include in our Thanksgiving Dinner just might find a much more prominent place on our daily dinner tables. It has long been known that sweet potatoes are an excellent source of Beta-Carotene, but these days, the common sweet potato has been found to be of much greater benefit in our diets.

Sweet Potatoes and Diabetics
Sweet Potatoes generally tend to get lumped together with all other potatoes and have long been considered a forbidden food for diabetics. However, recent news suggests that sweet potatoes are actually good for diabetics to include in their diets. According to information provided by The World's Healthiest Foods , sweet potatoes can actually help control blood sugar levels in Type 2 Diabetics. Recent research shows that extracts from sweet potatoes contain Adiponectin, which is a "protein hormone produced by our fat cells, and it serves as an important modifier of insulin metabolism". It seems that people who do not have diabetes, do have higher levels of this protein hormone in their blood, while people who do have diabetes, tend to have lower levels of this protein hormone. More research is being conducted on this finding, but it seems that sweet potatoes are a healthy food choice for all of us, including diabetics.

Choosing, Storing and Cooking Sweet Potatoes
When selecting sweet potatoes at your grocery store, look for firm unblemished potatoes. Fresh sweet potatoes will keep for about ten days when properly stored at home in a cool, dry, dark place (not in the refrigerator). Boiling sweet potatoes seems to have the most favorable impact on vitamin A protection as well as maintaining a lower glycemic impact. According to the Newsletter from The World's Healthiest Foods, "In one study, the average GI value for roasted sweet potato was 82, for baked sweet potato 94, and for boiled sweet potato 46". So for diabetics especially, it is much better to boil and mash the sweet potatoes, much as any other potato.

Nutritional Benefits of Sweet Potatoes
Besides being rich in Vitamin A in the form of Beta-Carotene, sweet potatoes are also rich in Vitamin C, Potassium, Manganese, Copper, Vitamin B6, Iron and dietary fiber. It seems that Sweet Potatoes truly are Sweet!

Sources:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64