Eating sweet potato leaves contains numerous nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, which has surprising and amazing health benefits to the body. Swet potato leaves are also known as camote tops, which have been mostly consumed in the island in the Pacific Oceans including Asian and African countries.
Sweet potato is a plant belong to the morning-glory family of Convolvulaceae. This plant bears a large, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots vegetable, which was mostly used for culinary purposes similar to regular potato.
It can be also used as the natural alternative to high-cost treatments and medications. Its leaves contain nutrients such as dietary fiber, niacin, thiamine, beta-carotene, vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K. It also contains minerals such as sodium, potassium, aluminum, boron, copper, calcium, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese and sulfur.
It has also the ability to reduce blood sugar, cholesterol levels, prevent infections, and boosts the immune system. It also contains a lot of antioxidants that can help the body to fight free radicals, which can cause several type of diseases.
The lowly “talbos” ng kamote ” or “sweet potato leaves” is a kind of a plant (scientifically called Ipomoea Batatas). It grows all year round and doesn’t need that much maintenance.
Health Benefits of Sweet Potato Leaves
Anti-Diabetes
Foods like sweet potato leaves are desired for its anti-diabetes properties and for diet therapy. Several studies have already proven that this plant has anti-diabetic compounds that lower blood glucose content. This is advantageous to know considering that the Philippines was reported to be a diabetes hotspot now with 6 million Filipinos having diabetes in the country today.
Heart Health
Sweet potato leaves have lots of vitamin K which helps in de-calcifying arteries of hard and harmful plaque deposits, a major cause of heart attack. Vitamin K in sweet potato leaves also helps reduce inflammation of the cells lining the blood vessels along your veins and arteries. Including sweet potato leaves in your daily diets help you maintain a healthy blood pressure and reduces the risk of having heary attacks.
Anti-mutagenic and Antioxidant
Sweet potato leaves have the antioxidants and antimutagenic compounds or substances that reduce the rate of mutation of cancer cells. A study of the effects of 82 kinds of vegetables and plant compounds on the mutation and replication of cancer cells indicated that sweet potato leaves with highest cancer
Enhances Eye Health
Sweet potato leaves are proven to be high in lutein and zeaxanthin (xanthophylls) which is supposed to contribute to the prevention of cataracts and Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Lutein is also an antioxidantwhich means it prevents oxidative damage to eye lens miscles that contribute to cataracts due to old age.
Anti-bacterial
An extract from thr lyophilized sweet potato leaf powder from a variety of sweet potato provided antibacterial properties. The water extracted from the sweet potato leaves inhibited the further growth of food poisoning bacteria such as the pathogenic E. coli, Staphylococcus, aureus, and Bacillus cereus.
Help in Bone Health
The vitamin K in sweet potato helps in maintaining the calcium in the bones, thus reducing the risk of developing osteoporosis (bone loss) and lower the incidence of bone fractures in post- menopausal women
Source: natural cance medicine
