Discover the benefits of sweet potato leaves for overall health
Sweet potato leaves are easy to grow, simple to prepare, and offer wonderful health benefits. (Photo: Moc Mien)
Sweet potato leaves are rich in B vitamins, C, E, β-carotene, biotin, and important minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc, copper, and iron.
Thanks to its rich nutritional composition, sweet potato leaves are attracting increasing interest in modern research for their numerous health potentials.
According to medical experts, the leaves, stems, peel, and tubers of sweet potatoes contain many bioactive compounds such as: flavonoids, phenolic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, carotenoids, anthocyanins, and more.
These active compounds are associated with antioxidant properties, support for blood sugar control, liver protection, antibacterial activity, immune enhancement, and help in reducing the risk of cell damage—a factor linked to cancer cell formation.
Some scientific evidence also shows that sweet potato leaf extract can help reduce oxidative stress, thereby supporting the prevention of health issues such as cardiovascular disease, premature aging, age-related vision disorders, and cancer.
A study showed that consuming about 200g of purple sweet potato leaves per day for 1 to 2 weeks in athletes helped reduce lipid and DNA oxidation, while increasing blood glutathione levels, thereby improving plasma antioxidant capacity.
In particular, test-tube studies have found that sweet potato leaf extracts can inhibit several cancer cell lines, including colon, breast, prostate, colorectal and lung cancer cells.
The mechanism is believed to stem from polyphenols and anthocyanins capable of regulating the cell cycle, inducing programmed cell death, and inhibiting the formation of blood vessels that nourish tumors.
Additionally, a peptide named IbACP extracted from sweet potato leaves has shown potential in inhibiting pancreatic cancer cells in preclinical studies.
These results show that sweet potato leaves have potential in supporting cancer prevention. However, these effects have mainly been observed in laboratory and animal studies. Sweet potato leaves are not a cure for cancer, but adding a variety of antioxidant-rich green vegetables can contribute to overall health improvement.
Moreover, studies on liver cell and animal models show that anthocyanins in sweet potato leaves can reduce oxidative stress, limit liver cell damage, and improve fatty acid profiles in the liver.
In several African countries and Indonesia, sweet potato leaves are also used in traditional medicine to support the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
Meanwhile, some experiments show that the insoluble fiber, flavonoids and quercetin in sweet potato leaves help reduce lipid absorption in the small intestine and inhibit enzymes involved in fat metabolism, thereby helping to lower blood lipid levels and the risk of atherosclerosis.
For people with high blood sugar, flavonoids in sweet potato greens have been shown in animal models to promote glucose uptake in peripheral tissues, increase insulin secretion and reduce insulin resistance.
However, experts note that human clinical evidence is currently still limited, not sufficient to make specific dosage recommendations for sweet potato leaves for disease prevention purposes. Using sweet potato leaves should be part of a balanced, diverse diet combined with a variety of other green vegetables.
Who should not eat sweet potato greens?
Although eating sweet potato greens has positive health benefits and can lower blood sugar, which is good for diabetics, it poses a danger for people with low blood sugar. Therefore, you should not eat sweet potato greens on an empty stomach to avoid fatigue and weakness.
For constipation, eating sweet potato greens can help promote bowel movements, but eating too much may turn constipation into diarrhea. Another important point is to eat thoroughly cooked food and drink boiled water, as raw sweet potato greens may cause constipation.
Sweet potato greens contain oxalates, which increase the risk of kidney stones, so they should not be eaten too frequently. At the same time, to balance nutrients, you should combine sweet potato greens with meat or animal liver.