Nutritional values of Sweet potatoes

Sweet Potatoes are the most nutritious vegetables.

It has a variety of sweet potatoes which was developed through conventional breeding in 1995.

-The utilization of sweet potatoes roots in the alleviation of Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in countries like Guatemala was recorded in the early as in the mid-1990s. Sweet potatoes have been promoted for their calorie-rich value, but the SP has been greatly recommended for the reduction of VAD in developing countries such as Asian countries.

Originally in Sub Saharan Africa, great reliance was on white-fleshed or yellow-fleshed that has established markets; however, the beta-carotene content of both the white and yellow-fleshed sweet potato roots is low as compared to the SP. Over forty cultivars of SP roots have been introduced in Africa.

- The B-Carotene content of SP varieties vary depending on the intensity of the orange color on the orange color on the flesh, with lighter orange flesh coloured varieties having lower B-carotene levels.

- SP roots can be exploited for their calorie-rich property to alleviate protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), but has been recommended for fighting VAD. SP roots are richer in provitamin A carotenoids than other sweet potato varieties including cream and white fleshed varieties.

In another study, it was established that the acceptability of SP roots is not only positively influenced by appealing color and taste, but also a higher dry matter content.

Utilization of orange fleshed sweet potato tubers have been utilized as food in their flesh form after cooking, as flour and in the grated and mashed (commonly known as puree) forms. SP flour has been used locally at domestic level and in industrial production of bakery products. Some of the bakery products in which SP flour is incorporated as an ingredient are cakes, bread, muffins and buns. Mashed SP has also been used for flour substitution in golden bread. SP is being promoted as a nutrition intervention to tackle VAD and food insecurity in many countries. In industrial production, SP has been used to produce products such as chips, crisps, flour, puree, juice, bread and other bakery products. In Asian countries, SP pickles and cubes are produced commercially and are known for their B-carotene rich property.

Production and use of SP puree as functional ingredients in food processing has been done for over three decades in the United States (US). SP roots have also been exploited in stock feeds as starch extraction in Asian extraction is limited as the dry matter content of these roots are quite low.

- Sweet Potato puree is incorporated into bread as a functional ingredient to increase the provitamin A composition of this bread. The substitution of wheat flour with SP puree in bread baking has been done at varied levels in different studies. The use of SP to substitute wheat flour in bread is aimed at increasing the uptake and utilization of SP roots. The commercialization of the SP puree bread creates a market for the SP roots; this trickles down to improve the rural economies of households involved in the production of SP roots.