◆Six wonderful uses of sweet potatoes

1. Boiling sweet potatoes can cure heat jaundice: Cooking sweet potatoes can cure heat jaundice.

2. Stir-fried sweet potato leaves for laxatives: 250 grams of sweet potato leaves, stir-fry with oil and salt, eat once, twice a day, can cure constipation.

3. Raw sweet potato leaves for laxatives: Mash raw sweet potato leaves, mix with brown sugar, and stick it on the navel to cure constipation.

4. Dried sweet potato leaves and vines to quench thirst: Appropriate amount of dried sweet potato leaves and vines, decocted in water, can cure thirst.

5. Sweet potato powder can cure nocturnal emissions: Taking sweet potato powder every morning and evening can cure nocturnal emissions and gonorrhea.

6. Sweet potato leaves can treat malnutrition: 90-120 grams of fresh sweet potato leaves, boiled in water and taken, can cure malnutrition and night blindness in children.

◆Nutritional value of sweet potato:

Sweet potato is also called sweet potato, sweet potato, potato, etc. Sweet potatoes contain a variety of nutrients that the human body needs. Each 500 grams of sweet potato can produce approximately 635 kcal of heat energy, containing 11.5 grams of protein, 14.5 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fat, 100 mg of phosphorus, 90 mg of calcium, 2 grams of iron, 0.5 mg of carotene, and vitamins B1, B2, C and niacin, linoleic acid, etc.

The content of vitamin B1 and B2 is 6 times and 3 times higher than that of rice respectively. In particular, sweet potatoes are rich in lysine, while rice and flour lack lysine. But many people haven't realized it yet.

Will eating sweet potatoes make people gain weight? According to scientific research, eating sweet potatoes will not make people gain weight. On the contrary, sweet potatoes are an ideal weight loss food.

Its caloric content is very low, much lower than ordinary rice, so you don’t have to worry about gaining weight after eating it, but it can help lose weight. Sweet potatoes also contain a substance similar to estrogen, which has a certain effect on protecting human skin and delaying aging.

Therefore, many foreign women regard sweet potatoes as beauty products. Sweet potatoes are crispy and sweet when eaten raw and can replace fruits; sweet and soft when eaten cooked, they are sweet in the mouth and sweet in the heart. It can be used as both a staple food and a vegetable. There are many ways to eat it, including steaming, boiling, pan-frying, and deep-frying. With skillful cooking, it can also become a delicacy on the table.

◆The health benefits of sweet potatoes:

1. Sweet potatoes have anti-cancer effects

The most anti-cancer nutrient in the diet is β-carotene ( Vitamin A precursor), vitamin C and folic acid, all three of which are relatively abundant in sweet potatoes. A small sweet potato (about 2 pounds) can provide 2 times the daily amount of vitamin A required by the human body, one-third of the daily amount of vitamin C and about 50 micrograms of folic acid; the dietary fiber content is higher than a bowl of oatmeal. . [Gourmet China]

The antioxidant effects of beta-carotene and vitamin C help resist oxidative stress damage to the genetic material deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and play a certain anti-cancer role.

Eating sweet potatoes regularly helps maintain normal folic acid levels in the body. Low folic acid levels in the body can increase the risk of cancer. The high content of dietary fiber in sweet potatoes can promote gastrointestinal motility and prevent constipation and colorectal cancer.

2. Sweet potatoes are good for the heart

Sweet potatoes are rich in potassium, beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamin C and vitamin B6, all of which help prevent cardiovascular disease. . Potassium contributes to fluid and electrolyte balance in the body's cells, maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function.

Beta-carotene and vitamin C can resist lipid oxidation and prevent atherosclerosis. Supplementing folic acid and vitamin B6 can help reduce blood homocysteine ??levels, which can damage arteries and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

3. Sweet potatoes prevent emphysema

An animal experiment at the University of Kansas in the United States found that smoking rats had lower levels of vitamin A and were prone to emphysema; while eating rich foods The incidence of emphysema was significantly reduced in smoking rats fed foods containing vitamin A.

Why some long-term smokers live to be over 90 years old without developing emphysema may be related to the fact that their daily diet is rich in vitamin A. Researchers recommend that those who smoke or passive smoke should eat some vitamin A-rich foods such as sweet potatoes every day to prevent emphysema.

4. Sweet potatoes have anti-diabetic effects

Japanese researchers found that insulin levels in the blood of diabetic obese rats decreased by 26% after eating white sweet potatoes for 4 weeks and 6 weeks respectively. , 60%; and found that sweet potatoes can effectively inhibit the increase in blood sugar levels after oral glucose administration in diabetic obese rats; eating sweet potatoes can also reduce the levels of triglycerides and free fatty acids in diabetic rats.

Research suggests that white-skinned sweet potatoes have certain anti-diabetic effects. A clinical study from the University of Vienna in Austria found that patients with type 2 diabetes improved their insulin sensitivity and helped control blood sugar after taking white-skinned sweet potato extract.

Sweet potato has been regarded by nutritionists as a nutritionally balanced food with both medicinal and food uses. Its calories are only one-third of those produced by rice of the same weight, and it contains almost no fat and cholesterol. Eating sweet potatoes regularly is beneficial to human health and has certain weight loss effects. But don’t eat too much sweet potatoes at one time to avoid abdominal discomfort symptoms such as heartburn, acid reflux or bloating.