Everything about the ingredients of healthy sweet potatoes: calorie values, protein, carbohydrate and iodine content. Everything about fitness for diets and diabetics.
The sweet potato has long been an exotic item in the vegetable department. In the meantime, however, the sweet potato can be found in almost every supermarket. The tuber is best known for its sweet taste and beautiful orange color. But what else can the sweet potato offer besides an apparently high sugar content?
Sweet potato vs. potato
When comparing potatoes and sweet potatoes, it is primarily the carbohydrate content, protein content and vitamin C content that are of interest. All nutritional information here relates to 100 g of the respective tuber with peel. The sweet potato contains significantly more carbohydrates than the normal potato. With 24 g of carbohydrates, a sweet potato has about 10 g more than a potato. Of the 24 g in raw sweet potatoes, only 3 g are sugar, the rest is starch. The really sweet taste only arises when the sweet potato is cooked, because then further starch is converted into sugar. Because of the higher starch and sugar content, a sweet potato naturally also has more calories.
- Sweet potato: 117 kcal, 2 BE
- Potatoes: 73, 1.2 BU
The potato is therefore better suited for a diet in which you consciously want to avoid large amounts of carbohydrates. Nevertheless, the sweet potato is not a calorie bomb and due to the numerous other healthy ingredients it is anything but unhealthy. The protein content of the sweet potato is slightly lower than that of the normal potato.
- Sweet potato: 1.6 g protein
- Potatoes: 2 g protein
When it comes to protein mass, both tubers are not the most optimal foods. However, when it comes to protein intake, the quality is much more important. Both tubers provide our body with essential amino acids and, especially for vegetarians and vegans, sweet potatoes and potatoes are important for a good protein supply. Nevertheless, the point here goes to the potato, as it contains fewer calories and can therefore be eaten in larger quantities.
In terms of vitamin C content, however, the sweet potato wins in any case. At around 30 mg, their content is almost twice as high as that of potatoes (17 mg). During preparation, ingredients such as vitamin C are spared if the sweet potato is cooked whole and with the skin. The sweet potato is also a perfect source of beta-carotene. The tubers can contain up to 8.5 mg of it. For comparison: even a carrot only has 9.5 mg of the healthy ingredient to offer. In addition, the sweet potato lacks the poisonous alkaloid solanine, which occurs in the potato peel, which cannot be destroyed by cooking. An overview of other noteworthy ingredients in sweet potatoes:
- Fat: 0.6 g
- Dietary fiber: 3 g
- Minerals: 1.12 g (especially potassium, iron and phosphorus)
- Vitamin B2: 0.1 mg
- Low in histamine
- Very high oxalic acid content
The oxalic acid content is not a problem with occasional consumption and in a healthy person. Spinach, for example, contains twice as much oxalic acid as sweet potato. Information about the sweet potato in connection with iodine is also often sought. It is less about the iodine content and more about a substance in the sweet potato that is supposed to disrupt the iodine metabolism. However, this problem does not affect healthy people without an underactive thyroid.
Sweet Potato and Diabetes
The sweet potato is said to be particularly suitable for diabetics. The ingredient Caiapo is made responsible for this. This substance, which is particularly found in the skin of the sweet potato, has been shown to increase the sensitivity to insulin. The ingredient is supposed to help especially with type 2 diabetes. Some websites are already talking about a new miracle cure. However, in one study, a fixed amount of Caiapo was administered daily for five months. It is questionable whether this amount can also be consumed with a normal diet. Because most of the time the peel of the sweet potato is not eaten and the question remains whether Caiapo is still intact after cooking. Whether the sweet potato is particularly helpful for diabetes cannot yet be answered in a well-founded manner.
If you feel like planting these delicious vegetables in your own garden, you will find our best here Tips for growing sweet potatoes.
