Sweet potato nutrition – six amazing facts you need to know

(NaturalNews) One of the most nutritious foods on the traditional Thanksgiving menu is the sweet potato. These orange-skinned root vegetables offer a host of health benefits (especially when cooked without the unnecessary sugar and marshmallows). If you want to raise health consciousness around the dinner table this holiday season, try throwing some of these six sweet potato facts into the conversation: 1. High nutritional value A 7-ounce (1 cup) serving of sweet potatoes contains 65% of the minimum necessary daily amount of Vitamin C. Sweet potatoes are also high in calcium, folate, potassium and beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is an antioxidant which converts to Vitamin A in the body: one serving of sweet potatoes can provide you with as much as 700% of the US RDA for Vitamin A. The Center for Science in the Public Interest rates sweet potatoes as the number one most nutritious vegetable because they such are so nutritionally rich. 2. Low glycemic index If you are unfamiliar with this term, the glycemic index indicates the impact a food substance has on blood sugar levels. A high glycemic index means blood sugar levels can spike. Diabetes and others who monitor their blood sugar levels seek to avoid foods with a high glycemic index or load. Sweet potatoes have a glycemic load of only 17. (By way of comparison, a white potato has an index of 29.) 3. Accessing sweet potatoes’ nutritional benefits is easy To gain the maximum health benefits from eating sweet potatoes, avoid discarding their skins — much of their healing potential resides in this portion of the tubers. Also, following the common dieters’ fallacy of avoiding all fats reduces your ability to access sweet potatoes’ benefits: beta-carotene absorbs more thoroughly into the body when consumed with a small amount of fat. Recent research seems to indicate that steaming or boiling sweet potatoes rather than roasting them helps preserve their low glycemic index. 4. Good for your skin Their high levels of Vitamin A and beta-carotene means sweet potatoes are a skin superfood. The substances on many pricey skin-care products like retinol and retinoic acid are actually derived from Vitamin A. Plus beta-carotene combats the free radicals which result skin aging. 5. Sweet potatoes are like yoga Their high potassium content means sweet potatoes can alleviate muscle cramps which are often related to potassium deficiency. During times of stress, the body uses more potassium, so eating sweet potatoes can help protect you from the negative health effects of tension. 6. Easy to grow in your garden Starting a vegetable garden is a great way both to reduce your grocery bill now, and to reduce your dependency on grocery stores for the long-term. Sweet potatoes make a good beginner’s garden crop. Although originally native to South America, this type of tuber only requires 100 frost-free days in order to grow, so you do not have to live in the tropics to harvest some of these nutritionally valuable tubers. Sweet potato plants have fewer diseases than other types of potatoes, and they are relatively undemanding plants, requiring little in the way of water or fertilizer. You can read more about growing sweet potatoes here: http://robbwolf.com/2011/04/20/growing-sweet-potatoes/ and here http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/32-1script_en.asp Sources for this article include: http://www.naturalnews.com/027051_food_sweet_potatoes_foods.html http://www.healingfoodreference.com/sweet_potato.html http://www.naturalnews.com/031543_sweet_potatoes_minerals.html http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64 http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2667/2 http://www.self.com/fooddiet/blogs/healthybites/2009/09/recipe-roundup-the-sweet-potat.html

New research: flavonoid quercetin fights viral infections, protects against chronic lung diseases

(NaturalNews) Asthma, cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are serious and even life-threatening conditions. However, these health problems share something with a usually minor infection — the common cold. The connection? Rhinovirus (RV), a single-stranded RNA virus from the picornaviridae family, causes the majority of colds and RV is also known to trigger exacerbations of CF, asthma and COPD. But now University of Michigan at Ann Arbor scientists have found that a natural substance, the flavonoid quercetin, puts the brakes on the ability of RV to replicate. It also fights inflammation. According to their research just presented at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2010 International Conference held in New Orleans, quercetin could be a treatment for rhinovirus-caused infections and could be particularly beneficial for people with serious underlying chronic lung diseases. That’s great news not just for people looking for a possible cure for the common cold but especially for those suffering from conditions like COPD and CF that rob them of the ability to breathe. For example, COPD (which includes emphysema and chronic obstructive bronchitis) causes coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and other symptoms. According the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, COPD is a major cause of disability and the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. CF is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the US. It causes the body to produce a thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and can lead to life-threatening lung infections. For their study, the University of Michigan research team decided to test quercetin on cells infected with RV. A phytochemical found in the skins of apples, red onions and other foods, quercetin is known to be a powerful antioxidant with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties. So the scientists hypothesized that quercetin might reduce the ability of RV to spark an inflammatory response. That’s important because inflammation causes oxidative stress which can disrupt the function of epithelial cells (cells that line cavities and structures) inside airways, negatively impacting the ability to breathe. Their lab experiments with RV infected cells showed that the researchers were right. The results suggested that quercetin actually inhibited the ability of the virus to replicate. The flavonoid also appeared to reduce the RV-triggered immune system response that can cause cytokines (proteins that are secreted by specific cells of the immune system) to induce excess inflammation. “Therefore, quercetin may be beneficial in the treatment of viral infections, particularly in patients with underlying chronic lung disease,” the researchers stated. As NaturalNews has previously reported, evidence has been accumulating over the past several years that shows phytonutrients such as quercetin are powerful protectors of health (http://www.naturalnews.com/027409_foods_meals_fruits.html). For example, the flavonoid may protect brain cells and help prevent dementia (http://www.naturalnews.com/002509.html). A study by University of South Carolina research found quercetin can boost exercise endurance, too (http://www.naturalnews.com/026591_quercetin_health_placebo.html). For more information: http://www.thoracic.org/newsroom/press-releases/resources/late-breaking-abstract-pdf/quercitin.pdf http://www.naturalnews.com/quercetin.html http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Copd/Copd_WhatIs.html http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/