The sweet potato plant is a branching and crawling vine with heart-shaped leaves and white or lavender flowers. This plant is mainly grown because of the sweet tubers it has. Sweet potato leaves are also sweet and healthy, but are they edible?
Yes, sweet potato leaves are edible because they are rich, delicious, and contain high levels of dietary fibre that regulate blood sugar in the body, but they have a strong flavor. Additionally, the leaves have all kinds of nutrients like vitamins A and K, as well as minerals like riboflavin, thiamin, folic acid, and niacin, which are essential to the body.
Vitamin A in sweet potato leaves helps one overcome vision problems. Vitamin K facilitates blood clotting and reduces the risk of bone problems by maintaining calcium in the bones.
These leaves are edible because they help prevent dangerous diseases such as inflammation, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer when consumed.
What Does Sweet Potato Leaves Do for the Body?
The following are six helpful ways to use sweet potato leaves in the body:
1. Sweet potato leaves maintain the health of the heart. This is done by lowering the blood pressure since they contain fibers that allow blood flow and prevent fat deposition in the arteries and veins.
2. They reduce inflammation in the body. These leaves contain beta-carotene and flavonoids that help lower inflammation in the body.
3. They make digestion suitable since the leaves have dietary fibre that enhances healthy digestion and makes the digestive system clean and function properly.
4. They make bones strong and healthy. Sweet potato leaves contain Vitamin K, which helps to keep calcium in bones healthy.
5. Sweet potato leaves help reduce the chances of cancer in the body. This is due to the presence of Vitamin K in the leaves, which aids in the prevention of cancers such as colon, prostate, nasal, oral, and stomach cancers, as well as cardiovascular conditions in the body.
6. They help prevent damage to cells and tissues in the body. These leaves are high in antioxidants, which eliminate free radicals from the body that damage cells and tissues.
7 Benefits of Sweet Potato Leaves
The following are the benefits of sweet potato leaves:
1. Promote Healthy Digestion
Sweet potato leaves promote healthy digestion because they are a source of dietary fiber that helps keep the digestive system clean and functioning correctly by ensuring all waste products are swept away.
Also, this fibre prevents constipation.
2. Helps in the Health of Bones.
These leaves contain vitamin K, which helps maintain calcium levels in bones, thus reducing the risk of bone loss and lowering the incidence of fractures.
3. Facilitate Blood Clotting
The vitamin K element of sweet potato leaves ensures that one recovers fast from cuts, bruises, and blood clotting problems, thus stimulating blood clotting.
4. Ensures the Health of the Heart
Sweet potato leaves contain Vitamin K, which aids in the reduction of inflammation in the cells that line blood vessels along arteries and veins. Also, it allows the flow of blood and prevents the deposition of fat on arteries, thus reducing the incidence of heart attacks and allowing the heart to be healthy.
5. Helps to Prevent Cancer
The vitamin K in these leaves assists in preventing and treating cancers like colon, prostate, anal, and stomach cancer. For instance, a high intake of Vitamin K by liver cancer patients will enhance the liver’s functioning.
Therefore, sweet potato leaves reduce the chances of cancer and cardiovascular conditions due to the vitamin K element.
6. Regulates Blood Sugar
Sweet potato leaves have anti-diabetic compounds that regulate blood sugar by decreasing glucose absorption in the bloodstream.
7. Enhances Eye Health
These leaves enhance the health of the eye due to the lutein compound that prevents oxidative damage that can affect the eye lens, the muscle that helps with cataracts due to old age.
How to Prepare Sweet Potato Leaves to Eat
Sweet potato leaves can be prepared by boiling, steaming, or stir-frying to preserve nutrients. Before you start to prepare, choose the leaves with dark flesh and deep green leaves to get the most nutrients from them.
Steps of Preparing Sweet Potato Leaves
1. Before cooking, rinse the leaves and chop them into large pieces. Use a small amount of water to reduce the loss of nutrients and separate the stems from the green leaves.
2. After that, heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add onion or garlic. If you like them to cook for a few minutes, put in the stems, then the green leaves, and stir to coat with oil to prevent sticking.
3. Then pour in a small amount of water and let it simmer until the leaves wilt, which takes about three to five minutes. Then remove it from the heat, drain it, and serve it as a side dish or mix it into pasta.
Sweet potato leaves taste slightly bitter and tough when raw, but when they are cooked, the leaves take on a mild and sweet flavor similar to the taste of spinach.
Are Sweet Potato Leaves Healthier Than Spinach?
No, sweet potato leaves are not healthier than spinach. Sweet potato leaves and spinach have nutrients that build the value of the body, but spinach is healthier than sweet potato leaves. This is because spinach has more protein, calcium, vitamins K, C, and E, and folate. It also has a high water content and a small amount of sugar.
There are different types of sweet potato leaves. Therefore, all of these types are edible due to their high dietary fibre, but they taste differently.
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