Do you like sweet potatoes? Choosing "these kinds" increases the antioxidant effect.

Sweet potatoes are one of the widely consumed staple crops worldwide, and it has been reported that phenolic acids in sweet potatoes have excellent antioxidant effects, such as inhibiting cellular oxidation. However, there has been a lack of research identifying the types of phenolic acid derivatives and comparing their contents in domestically produced sweet potatoes. In response, a research team from the Rural Development Administration conducted a detailed analysis of domestically produced sweet potatoes.

According to the research, the purple sweet potato variety 'Shinjami' developed by the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation contains a total of 34 phenolic acid derivatives, including isochlorogenic acid. Among them, six hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives were identified in sweet potatoes for the first time in the world. The research team named the newly identified compounds nasipomic acid, daripomic acid, and others, and announced their findings.

The purple sweet potato Shinjammi has a phenolic acid content of 83.8 mg per 100 g of dry weight, which is 3.2 times higher than the chestnut sweet potato 'Jinhongmi' (26.3 mg) and 6.6 times higher than the pumpkin sweet potato 'Juhwangmi' (12.7 mg).

In previous experiments conducted by the research teams of the Department of Food and Nutrition at Changshin University and the Department of Food and Nutritional Life Sciences at Gyeongnam University, it was also found that the antioxidant components (phenolic compounds) vary by sweet potato variety, with purple sweet potatoes, pumpkin sweet potatoes, and regular sweet potatoes showing decreasing levels respectively. The high antioxidant power of purple sweet potatoes is due to the antioxidant compound 'anthocyanin.' Anthocyanin is a polyphenol pigment that appears red. When ingested, it helps eliminate oxidative substances caused by active oxygen and prevents inflammation. The reason why purple sweet potato flesh has a deep purple color is because it contains a high amount of anthocyanin (3.8 to 4.7 mg per gram). If you want to consume more antioxidant components, eating purple sweet potatoes is more beneficial than the yellowish regular sweet potatoes.

Yoo Sun-mi, Director of the Food and Nutrition Division at the Rural Development Administration, said, "This research is an essential process for securing dietary information to improve public health," and "We will continuously build basic data so that our agricultural products can be fully utilized in creating a healthy dietary culture."

<Source: Health Chosun>