Origin of sweet potato
The sweet potato does not originate from South-America as does the normal potato. The sweet potato was found in a valley that was unknown in the world till the second world war. Over this valley, an American plane flew during its discovery. It happened on the island of New Guinea and the valley is called the Balim valley. There they discovered a civilization of Papuan people who grew 50 kinds of batatas as this tuber was originally called. There are white, purple, orange and, yellow varieties.
Source of vitamin A
Sweet potato is completely different from normal potato. It is not a night shade and it is much more healthy. The sweet potato stands firm in the top 5 of vegetables containing the highest amount of vitamin A. In 100 gram sweet potato there is 400% of the RDA of this vitamin. South African research shows that the sweet potato can be a good source of vitamin A for school children. It also delivers vitamin C, B3, B5, B6 and the minerals manganese, potassium and copper into your body. Furthermore it contains betacarotenoids and the phytonutrients sporamin, cyanidin and peonidin which are all strong antioxidants.
Diabetes
Adipectin in this vegetable is a substance that regulates the blood sugar level. Therefore it looks like perfect for people with diabetes type 2 who want to reverse their disease. But researchers are careful with clinical recommendations, though the first signs on research in this field show that this vegetable may become a part of a diet that works well for diabetics.
Anti cancer vegetable
Chinese research show that it is mainly good against bowel cancer. Japanese research shows that sweet potato has a clear anti-cancer function. It induces the sudden death of a cancer cell, which is the definition of the scientific word for this process: apoptosis. Besides the abundance of antioxidants, sweet potato has a relatively high amount of omega 3 fats compared to average vegetables. These omega 3 fats are necessary to prevent cancer. Of course cold pressed oils from nuts and seeds contain more omega 3 fatty acids. When you want to know more about the relation of omega 3 fatty acids and te prevention of cancer, you have to read te book ´The hidden story of cancer´ by Brian Peskin. Researchers from Korea say in 2011 that anthocyanins in sweet potato provide an effect against tumors. Now all this researches together don´t tell us to eat more of this tuber to prevent us from cancer right away. One of the reasons for this is because not enough research have been done till now. Though we can choose ourselves how to handle this information. There is a chance that in the future this vegetable will be advised to prevent people from cancer.
How to benefit the most?
It is possible to boil the sweet potato together with the normal potato. But the it is ready sooner so it is better to boil it shorter. You may want to cut it into small pieces to bake them for 5 minutes together with an onion. This will give you a great part of a meal. This colorful vegetable is also raw edible in a salad. Grate a sweet potato and enjoy your medicine!!
Book: Brian Peskin, The hidden story of cancer
Diabetes: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22336861
Chinese research cancer: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23745032
Korean cancer research: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22153515
General information: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24921903
Source article: http://blogs.naturalnews.com/sweet-potato-healthy-natural-medicine/