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Please Pass Those Sweet Taters
Walk into any supermarket this time of year and you’ll notice larger displays of sweet potatoes. Why? Sweet potatoes are in high demand during the holiday season. People make pies, casseroles, and soufflés. Others serve them baked, stuffed, mashed, roasted, or candied as a traditional dish for family and friends—and for good reason. Sweet potatoes are considered one of the most versatile vegetables. They taste great, and they’re chock-full of vitamins and minerals.
In this month’s E-News exclusive, Today’s Dietitian reviews the sweet potato’s history as a holiday food, its traditional uses, and nutrient profile. We also include four recipes RDs can share with clients.
After reading the article, visit Today’s Dietitian’s website at www.TodaysDietitian.com to read the digital edition of the December issue, which includes articles on maintaining weight loss during the holidays, popular nutrition trends for 2016, managing short bowel syndrome in parenteral nutrition patients, and gluten-free living and emotional health.
Please enjoy the E-Newsletter and give us your feedback at TDeditor@gvpub.com, and don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
— Judith Riddle, editor |
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Sweet Potatoes: A Nutritious Powerhouse With a Rich History
By David Yeager
“As a food for human consumption, the sweet potato has been, and always will be, held in very high esteem, and its popularity will increase in this direction as we learn more about its many possibilities.”
— George Washington Carver
The sweet potato, a staple of many a holiday dish, is packed with nutrients. Unfortunately, most traditional ways of preparing sweet potatoes include copious amounts of sugar and fat. With a few simple adjustments, however, revelers (and those who feed them) can serve up the tasty root with fewer calories and plenty of flavor.
Sweet potatoes, Ipomoea batatas, a member of the Morning Glory family, have been cultivated since sometime between 2500 BC and 1850 BC, and archaeological evidence suggests that humans have eaten them for as long as 10,000 years.1,2 By the time Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, sweet potatoes were a well-established crop in Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands.1,3 Columbus took them to Spain, and they were considered a delicacy in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as a powerful aphrodisiac.1,3 Legend has it that King Henry VIII of England was a voracious consumer of sweet potatoes, especially spiced sweet potato pies.1
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Coffee Daily May Improve
Colon Cancer Survival
Regular consumption of caffeinated coffee may help prevent the return of colon cancer after treatment and improve the chances of a cure, according to a study from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that reported this association for the first time.
The patients, all of them treated with surgery and chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer, had the greatest benefit from consuming four or more cups of coffee per day (about 460 mg of caffeine), according to the study published in August in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These patients were 42% less likely to have their cancer return than noncoffee drinkers, and were 33% less likely to die from cancer or any other cause.
Two to three cups of coffee daily had a more modest benefit, while little protection was associated with one cup or less, reported the researchers, led by Charles Fuchs, MD, MPH, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber. First author is Brendan J. Guercio, MD, also of Dana-Farber.
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