Sweet potatoes and nightshade
Good question! In this section PlusOnline goes in search of answers to nagging questions. This time: are sweet potatoes healthier than regular ones?
The sweet potato, also called ‘sweet potato’, is not related to the regular potato. The former belongs to the bindweed family and the latter to the nightshade family. They contain different vitamins. The regular potato is richer in vitamin B6, but when it comes to vitamin A, the sweet potato takes the cake. Both tubers are important in meals all over the world, mainly because of their high carbohydrate content. So one is not necessarily healthier than the other.
Rich in carbohydrates
The type of carbohydrates does differ: the carbohydrates in regular potatoes mainly consist of starch. This is a slow-digesting type of carbohydrate. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, contain a lot of quickly digestible carbohydrates (‘sugars’), for example fructose, or fruit sugar. But sweet potatoes also contain inulin, which is digested even more slowly than starch. Of these two, inulin is therefore healthier for diabetic patients. The fiber content is higher in the sweet potato.
| Energy (kcal) | Protein (g) | Carbohydrates (g) | Of which sugars (g) | Fat (g) | Fiber (g) | water (g) | |
| Sweet potato (cooked) | 94 | 1.1 | 20.5 | 11.6 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 74.7 |
| Potato (boiled, without skin) | 83 | 1.9 | 17.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 78.0 |
Vitamins and minerals
For vitamins and minerals you have come to the right place with these crops. Sweet potatoes are high in sodium, potassium and vitamins A and C. Regular potatoes contain vitamins B6, vitamin B11 and even more potassium than sweet potatoes.
| Sodium (mg) | Potassium (mg) | Calcium (mg) | Magnesium (mg) | Vitamin A (µg) | Vitamin B6 (mg) | Vitamin B11 (µg) | Vitamin C (mg) | |
| Sweet potato (cooked) | 32 | 300 | 23 | 50 | 1438 | 0.05 | 8 | 17 |
| Potato (boiled, without skin) | 4 | 344 | 9 | 41 | 1 | 0.19 | 17.6 | 9 |
Preparation
Both potatoes can be boiled, baked and fried. Sweet potatoes can also be eaten raw, although it is not very tasty. It is not recommended to eat a regular potato without preparation. It may contain the toxic substance ‘fasine’, which causes red blood cells to clump together. This substance is rendered harmless by heating. In general, the following applies to crops: the more preparation, the less nutrients they ultimately contain. If you leave the skin on, you will retain a lot of the nutrients, because they are in the skin or just below it.
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