Can You Drink Raw Sweet Potato Juice? [Benefits & Concerns]

While a sweet potato might not be your top choice in selecting a vegetable to juice, they are often combined with other vegetables and will be an excellent addition to your healthy juice.

The starch in sweet potatoes will give your drinks a creamy texture, so if you want a more diluted juice, combine it with other vegetables that contain more water and add a dash of lemon for citrusy zest.

Popular recipes of raw sweet potato juice include combining it with:

• Turmeric
• Orange
• Lemon
• Carrot
• Cinnamon
• Beetroot
• Apple
• Ginger
• Pear

However, when juicing, note that the skin of a sweet potato contains about as much fiber as its flesh.

In addition, most of the antioxidants are found just below the skin, so be sure to juice thoroughly to extract the maximum amount of nutrients.

Sweet potatoes are a nutritious, healthy food high in fiber, carbohydrates and packed with vitamins and essential minerals.

In addition, a medium-sized boiled sweet potato contains:

While they look like regular potatoes, sweet potatoes are not from the same family of plants.

The sweet potato comes from Ipomoea batatas in the Morning Glory family (Convolvulaceae), while the potato grows from the Solanum tuberosum.

Some of the earliest records of cultivation started about 5,000 years ago in Peru.

Renowned explorers like Christopher Columbus and Captain Cook were integral in spreading sweet potatoes across continents.

Today, sweet potatoes are a hugely popular food globally and widely considered healthier than regular potatoes because of their lower glycemic index and higher levels of antioxidants.

Is Raw Sweet Potato Juice Good For You?

They are an excellent source of dietary fiber and carbohydrates with high levels of nutrients like:

• Potassium
• Magnesium
• Vitamin A, C, D, E, B6
• Iron
• Beta carotene
• Phosphorus
• Calcium

In addition, they are complex carbohydrates with a low to moderate GI.

While cooked sweet potatoes can have moderate to high GI rankings depending on how they are cooked, raw sweet potatoes have a relatively low GI of 41.

The Glycemic Index ranks foods from 0 to 100 on the effects it has on blood sugar levels.

A GI count of 55 and below is considered low, a moderate GI is 56 to 69, and a high GI is above 70.

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas and is responsible for moving glucose into the cells, regulating blood sugar levels.

A lack of insulin might cause a form of diabetes.

People with diabetes conventionally shy away from potatoes and even sweet potatoes that have a lower GI.

Boiled sweet potato has a GI count of 50, steamed or baked at about 64, and fried a whopping 93.

In comparison, raw sweet potato has a GI count of 41, making it suitable for people with diabetes.

Raw potatoes are an excellent addition to a diet that might be lacking in nutrients or carbohydrates.

Long considered a nutritious staple food, sweet potatoes are well on their way to having their status as a superfood cemented in stone with a host of known health benefits like:

1. Highly Nutritious

Raw sweet potato juice is easy to make and very nutritious.

It contains crucial phytonutrients like beta-carotene, vitamin C, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium.

These nutrients have all been credited with preventing severe illness and contributing significantly to overall health.

In addition, raw sweet potatoes are jam-packed with fiber which is good for your digestive system and naturally lowers the blood sugar levels in the body.

2. Aids in Weight Loss

Sweet potatoes contain loads of fiber which increase satiety, making you feel fuller for more extended periods, contributing to appetite control and weight management.

In addition, the high carbohydrate content gives you fuel for the energy you are burning, increasing the metabolism and contributing to weight loss.

3. Reduces the Risk of Type-2 Diabetes

Sweet potatoes contain high levels of beta carotenes, a powerful antioxidant that fights free radicals.

Free radicals accumulate from our environment through industrial gases, ozone, radiation, smoke, and other pollutants.

The antioxidants balance the free radicals and keep the body stable.

When the number of free radical atoms exceeds that of antioxidants, it results in a condition called oxidative stress.

If left unchecked, oxidative stress can lead to serious diseases like cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, cancers, and type-2 diabetes.

In addition, sweet potatoes can help people with diabetes improve gut health, lower the risk of heart disease, and reduce inflammatory conditions.

4. May Help Reduce The Risk Of Cancer

Some foods have natural substances that have been found to possess anti-cancer properties and slow the spread of malignant tumor cells.

The antioxidants and phytochemicals help prevent cell damage, lower the risk of developing cancer and other serious diseases.

The high concentration of beta carotene found in sweet potato juice may help fight cancer cells by balancing free radicals.

In addition, superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an enzyme that has been known to help break down damaging oxygen molecules in cells, preventing tissue damage.

5. Lowers Blood Pressure

Sweet potatoes have high levels of magnesium and potassium. A medium sweet potato has 344 mg of potassium and 32 mg of magnesium.

Both magnesium and potassium have been credited with lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of hypertension, heart disease, and stroke.

6. May Slow The Effects Of Aging

The carotenoids and vitamin C in sweet potatoes protect against oxidative damage and help metabolize toxins that cause premature aging.

Nutrient-rich food has been known to slow the loss of muscle mass and bone density, reduce inflammation, and boost the immune system.

7. Improves Skin Health

The carotenoids and vitamin C can help reduce signs of aging and contribute to healthier skin. In addition, studies have reported decreased inflammation in acne, eczema, and other skin conditions.

Sweet potatoes also increase the production of collagen, which helps improve the skin’s elasticity and firmness.

8. Improves Eye Health

Beta carotene metabolizes into vitamin A, a fat-soluble vitamin also known as retinol, that is important for vision, the immune system, and reproduction.

With only one cup of sweet potato juice containing 35% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, the juice is an excellent way of maintaining eye health.

A vitamin A deficiency can lead to many eye complications like macular degeneration and night blindness.

Potatoes are supposed to be stored in a cool, dark place.

When potatoes are left in the sun, they start to produce solanine, a glycoalkaloid poison found in the nightshade family.

Solanine is a cyanide compound that appears in nightshade plants to deter insects and predators.

The more the potato is exposed to the sun, the more solanine will be produced, and the potato will get greener.

Solanine can appear in the sprouts, leaves, stems, and edible tubers, causing the potato to taste bitter.

Symptoms of solanine poisoning can be severe. Never eat a partly green potato.

The potatoes produce solanine to deter insects and predators.

Potatoes are root vegetables that should not be exposed to the sun and should be stored in a cool, dry place.

However, when they get exposed to the sun, they defend themselves by producing this poison to deter insects and predators.

The more sun exposure they get, the more solanine they produce.

Never eat a potato that has green parts or is green.

Solanine toxicity can be extremely severe, even fatal.

Symptoms of solanine toxicity usually manifest in gastrointestinal and neurological disorders.

• Diarrhea
• Abdominal pain
• Drowsiness
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Eczema
• Inflammation
• Joint Pain
• Respiratory failure
• Weak pulse
• Mental confusion
• Coma
• Death