Geschatte leestijd: 3 minutenFor several years now, sweet potatoes have been on the menu for bodybuilders. Nowadays, almost every health-conscious individual recognizes sweet potatoes as a nutritious alternative to the run-of-the-mill potato. Especially now that even the major blue supermarket chain proudly promotes them. But why? There’s an air of healthiness surrounding these cheerful orange potatoes, but what’s the truth?
Glycemic Index
Sweet potatoes are often chosen for their low glycemic index, meaning the speed at which the sugars in the product are absorbed into the bloodstream. Unlike some ‘regular’ potatoes, this is low, which is why they are often seen as a healthier alternative.
Health is a tricky concept to explain and argue. What’s healthy or can be healthy for one person may be a less wise choice for another. In many cases, a sweet potato can be a good alternative to a regular potato, but not always.
What Exactly Are You Eating?
For both regular and sweet potatoes, you’re consuming a product that grows as a storage source of nutrients for a plant, whether domesticated and improved by farmers or not. Both are rich in carbohydrates, but there’s nothing wrong with that. You need carbohydrates, and if you’re active and lean, you need even more than when you’re sedentary.
Simply comparing regular and sweet potatoes isn’t such a wise plan (I wonder why I’m writing this article) because the differences are very small, and you don’t eat both products separately.
By the way, the best ways to prepare both are boiling or steaming because unlike frying, baking, or grilling, no moisture is extracted. This means the number of grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams of product doesn’t increase.
Differences and Similarities of Sweet Potatoes
The differences in nutrients between the two types of potatoes aren’t very significant. Depending on the source you use, a regular potato may be richer in carbohydrates than a sweet potato, but that depends on how you prepare the products and what you define as a sweet potato and which regular potato you choose for comparison.
That’s precisely the tricky part: different preparation methods change the composition (and glycemic load and glycemic index) of the potatoes. So what should you compare?
Furthermore, both regular potatoes and sweet potatoes are almost never eaten without another product. Both are often part of a meal with something else. Sweet potatoes are often used in baked goods, and Sweet Potato Pie is a staple in the United States. But even in the Netherlands, sweet potatoes are increasingly becoming part of sweet baked goods. That’s quite logical because of the relatively high sugar content in sweet potatoes.
Color Is Good
A small tip, then. Like most colored foods (and I don’t mean gummy bears, but green, red, purple, yellow vegetables), sweet potatoes also contain many different types of vitamins and minerals. In a diet low in vitamins and minerals, sweet potatoes would be a wise choice. But then again, almost any vegetable or fruit product would be a good choice.
Regular potatoes also contain many vitamins and minerals, but sweet potatoes excel in this area.
Conclusion
Both regular and sweet potatoes are to a limited extent a wise choice for almost any diet, like most unprocessed foods. The hype around sweet potatoes is slightly exaggerated. It’s not a superfood, and it’s not a better alternative to our trusted old Dutch potato.
Incorporate both products into your diet to get a variety of nutrients. Look at how the product is prepared (especially boil or steam them and avoid grilling or frying them often), and make sure you have potatoes with other products like lean protein sources and healthy fats.
Sweet potatoes are, for those who want to hear it, healthy but not a miracle cure. The same goes for regular potatoes.
References
- glycemicindex.com/about.php
- precisionnutrition.com/regular-vs-sweet-potatoes
- iamafoodie.nl/zoete-aardappel/
- health.clevelandclinic.org/2013/03/white-potatoes-vs-sweet-potatoes-which-is-healthier/
