We have seen it before with a number of different berries: the white cranberry, the pomegranate, and most recently with the Acai berry. Even beyond just the simple berries: a whole slew of fruits, vegetables and whatnots that all have been the subject of vigourous claims of being the latest and greatest ‘Super Food’. In any case, at this moment a strain of sweet potato is being developed and tested as the new super foods, and it already has scientists saying that the vegetable may actually stop people from getting cancer. Seriously, that is quite a remarkable claim to hear made about any kind or type of produce, don’t you think?. The logic here is that the designer sweet potato, grown for its purple anti-cancer pigment, is also alleged to contain within it some anti-ageing and antioxidant chemicals. A new variety of purple sweet potato has been developed by agricultural experts in the US; the new variety boasts a somewhat thicker purple skin and flesh that is intended to increase the inherent cancer-fighting properties of the vegetable.. Soyoung Lim, a researcher from Kansas State University, said that it differed from purple sweet potato varieties already found in most grocery outlets because both the newer potato’s flesh and skin were purple.
The chemical anthocyanin is believed to lower the risk of cancer and could even possibly be able to slow down the progression of certain forms of the disease, is contained in the purple potato’s coloring, according to Lim.. According to Lim, “The colour is the important part because the purple colour is responsible for the amount of anthocyanin in the potato.” Scientists have already used two strands of anthocyanin to treat colon cancer and found that the pigment slowed down the growth of cancerous cells. Anthocyanin, which produces red, blue or purple colours in various types of food, can also be found in blueberries, red grapes and red cabbage, however the specially grown purple sweet potato has a higher concentration of the chemical than any other species of potato. The new variety of purple sweet potato supposedly tastes sweeter than other varieties of potato but is still perfectly edible, this according to Dr Weiqun Wang, a scientist who was also involved in the testing of the potato.. According to Wang, “It’s good not only for cancer prevention but other benefits like antioxidants as well.”
However, it might be quite a while before the new higher concentration variety of sweet potato is made available for consumption by the general public since it is first sceduled to undergo a series of clinical trials through the next year. Naturally like I mentioned already, there have been so many other food stuffs that have been the topic of claims as to their potential health benefits, however I do not recall before any variety of food that was tagged with such a basic claim that carried with it such potentially major implications for human health and wellness. This is definitely a story that bears following as it develops through the next year.
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