Not Many Know, It Turns Out That Purple Sweet Potatoes Have These 5 Benefits For Health

Illustration of the benefits of purple sweet potato for health (Freepik/Dashu83)

YOGYAKARTA – Purple sweet potato with the scientific name Dioscorea alata, is a tuber whose natural habitat is in Southeast Asia. This type of tuber with purple tuber flesh is often confused with taro. Although the taste, color, and texture are different, they are both root fruits of tuber plants.

Purple sweet potato, often enjoyed and cultivated around the world. In a number of studies, explored its benefits for health. It tastes sweet and is widely processed by boiling or cooking cakes to delicious dishes with meat or fish. Launching Healthline, Thursday, August 11, purple sweet potatoes are full of vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants. If listed, here are the benefits of purple sweet potato for health.

1. Help reduce blood pressure

Purple sweet potato is rich in anti-oxidant compounds, one of which is anthocyanins. Anthocyanins according to research conducted in 2016 and published in the journal Walter Kluwer Medicine, help reduce blood pressure. In addition, it can also be useful in reducing inflammation and protecting against cancer and type 2 diabetes.

Another antioxidant contained in purple sweet potatoes is vitamin C. This is useful for keeping cells healthy, increasing iron absorption, and protecting DNA from damage.

Illustration of the benefits of purple sweet potato for health (Freepik/Jcomp)

2. Helps manage blood sugar

The flavonoid content in purple sweet potatoes has been shown to help lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. When a person is obese and has inflammation due to oxidative stress, the risk of insulin resistance increases. The effect is poor blood sugar control.

Insulin resistance is when cells don't respond well to the hormone insulin. So that blood sugar is not controlled. Research reports that purple sweet potato supplements can reduce the absorption rate of blood sugar in rats with high levels. Although it is necessary to conduct further research on patients with type 2 diabetes, the research that has been carried out has significant benefits for further research and informs that a portion of purple sweet potato can be consumed by people with type 2 diabetes.

3. Reduce asthma symptoms

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. Research shows that eating foods high in anti-oxidants such as vitamin A and vitamin V is associated with a reduced risk of asthma. The study also showed that those with low vitamin C intake had an increased risk of asthma by 12 percent. If purple sweet potato is rich in anti-oxidants, namely vitamins A and C, it means that it can help achieve the daily intake level for these vitamins.

4. Maintain gut health

Complex carbohydrates and a source of resistant starch in purple sweet potato are good for digestion. In one test-tube study, it was shown that resistant starch from purple sweet potatoes increased the number of Bifidobacteria, a type of beneficial gut bacteria. These bacteria play an important role in gut health, even helping reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and irritable bowel syndrome.

5. Alternative healthy food

To maintain health, quality ingredients are important as a source of food. Purple sweet potato you can include in your daily menu list. Because it can be processed by boiling, mashing, roasting, until fried. Sweet potatoes can also be used as a juice mixture or cake for dessert.

Well, to process it, consider the method. Because minimal processing will provide a wealth of nutrients rather than over-processing which reduces the beneficial content in it.