
What happens when you start eating sweet potatoes every day
A 2008 study found that participants who ate sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes had lower blood sugar levels after eating. Researchers believe this is because the beta-carotene in sweet potatoes helps slow digestion, so blood sugar levels remain stable instead of spiking as they do when eating white potatoes.
sustained weight loss
Sweet potatoes are low in calories and high in fiber and nutrients. They can aid in weight loss by promoting a general feeling of fullness. In addition to helping you feel full, they also boost your metabolism and may lower cholesterol. Sweet potatoes contain resistant starch, which isn’t digested or absorbed by the body but helps feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut. When these bacteria digest the resistant starch, they release short-chain fatty acids that can help reduce appetite and increase feelings of satiety.
Support healthy vision
The vitamin A in sweet potatoes is essential for good eyesight because it helps maintain the surface of the cornea, making it more resistant to damage from ultraviolet light. It also helps prevent cataracts, which develop when the proteins in the lens become cloudy due to sun exposure or aging.
Sweet potatoes are also very rich in vitamin B6, which helps maintain eye health by supporting macular health. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in people aged 60 and older. It’s a slow process that damages the macula, an area at the back of your retina responsible for sharp vision. The macula makes up about 2% of your retina but contains 30% of its light-sensitive cells. These photoreceptors send signals to the brain that allow us to see the sharpness, color, and contrast of the objects we look at. When these cells stop working properly due to aging or disease, we lose our ability to see objects clearly and may experience blind spots in our vision.
Blood pressure regulation
Using sweet potatoes to lower blood pressure makes sense because they are rich in potassium, which helps regulate the amount of sodium in your body. Excess sodium can lead to increased blood pressure. Sweet potatoes also contain beta-carotene, which promotes the release of nitric oxide, a chemical that relaxes and widens blood vessels. This helps lower blood pressure by reducing the workload on the heart and vascular system.
In one study, Japanese researchers gave participants either 100 grams or 200 grams of boiled sweet potatoes for three months. After consuming this amount for three months, their systolic blood pressure dropped significantly.