Product Description
Packaging: Bag
Origin: China
Description: Purple potatoes are high-antioxidant foods that are eye-catching since the skin and the flesh are both purple, making them a beautiful adornment to any plate. But it’s not just the color that’s appealing. Purple potatoes offer a host of awesome benefits from working as a healthy food-coloring agent to helping regulate blood pressure to aiding athletic performance and more.
Benefits of Purple Potatoes
1. Healthy Food-Coloring Alternative
Potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables are used for coloring foods and grown specifically for the natural colors industry. This is great news since they’re completely natural versus the numerous chemical food dyes linked to cancer that have been used for years.
The American Chemical Society documents the research that has been done regarding this food use, noting that the purple sweet potato is chock-full of anthocyanins, which provide health benefits not found in artificial food colors. Purple sweet potato anthocyanins are great for food and beverage coloring and are used in food products, such as fruit drinks, vitamin waters, ice cream and yogurt. What makes them unique goes beyond their color. They’re more stable options because they do not break down easily, making them consistent in providing color while giving little to no taste.
2. Help Lower and Regulate Blood Pressure
A small study presented by the American Chemical Society found that eating purple potatoes may lower blood pressure. This could be because of their effect on the capillaries and blood vessels, along with the high concentration of a phytochemical called chlorogenic acid, which has been linked to lower blood pressure found in some studies. This research shows that plain purple potatoes, baked or cooked in the microwave, lowered the blood pressure of subjects that were reviewed by 3 percent to 4 percent, with no weight gain, and was likely due to the antioxidant behavior and phytonutrient density that these colorful gems exude.
The health benefits are similar to what the popular nutrient-rich providers broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts provide. And let’s not forget about the potassium they contain, which offers the regulation of blood pressure. This makes purple potatoes and other similar foods excellent additions to any high blood pressure diet treatment plan.
3. Prevent Blood Clots
Thrombosis, a formal name for blood clotting, is a leading cause of death throughout the world but can be prevented, possibly by adding a little purple potato into your diet. As noted previously, the purple potato contains chlorogenic acid. This acid has been shown to break down blood clots and inhibit the enzymatic activity of procoagulant proteins and peptides.
4. Jam-Packed with Antioxidants and Phytonutrients
The purple potato is loaded with antioxidants and disease-fighting phytonutrients that work together to offer amazing health benefits, such as reducing inflammation. One of the elements within this powerful cocktail is the anthocyanin, which is what gives the potato its brilliant purple color. But it’s the free-radical scavenging and antioxidant capabilities of the anthocyanin pigments that gives the desired health benefits.
Anthocyanin pigments as medicine have been a part of folk medicine for ages and used as remedies for liver dysfunction and hypertension, and much like the bilberry, anthocyanins have been linked to helping reduce the risks of eye diseases and infections.
5. Provides Fiber
Most people don’t eat enough fiber, according to numerous reports. Maybe a little purple potato can help with that problem since it’s a healthier high-fiber food. Why is fiber so important? One of the biggest reasons is it helps keep things moving along smoothly through your digestive system, which can help eliminate constipation, irregularity and discomfort.
Fiber is classified as soluble, which means it dissolves in water, or insoluble, which doesn’t. Potatoes contain the insoluble form as well as whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, nuts, beans, and vegetables, like cauliflower and green beans. Including both soluble and insoluble fiber promotes the best health, and purple potatoes offer a good dose of the insoluble kind to help reach the proper amount of fiber needs.
6. Great for Endurance Athletes and Ultra Runners
Another reason that insoluble fiber is so helpful is that it can provide a sort of time-released effect that helps endurance athletes sustain high energy levels for long periods of time. In fact, it’s not unusual to find potatoes at an aid station during a long-distance race.
Runner’s World reports that while the ever-so famous carb-loader pasta seems to take front stage, the potato may do a better job, not only the night before but also the day of an event by providing more energy-delivering complex carbohydrates. Not only are they super easy to prepare, but they’re easy to digest — a common concern with most athletes. As well, potassium is useful for athletes of all types, in particular, due to the electrolytes it contains. The purple potato contains 341 milligrams of potassium per half cup serving, which is 10 percent of the daily recommended value. This may make the potato the perfect carb for athletes — and to help prevent low potassium.
Purple Potatoes Nutrition
A half cup of diced, raw purple potatoes contains about:
* 52 calories
* 12 grams carbohydrates
* 1.4 grams protein
* 0.1 gram fat
* 1.3 grams fiber
* 6.5 milligrams vitamin C (11 percent DV)
* 341 milligrams potassium (10 percent DV)
* 0.1 milligrams vitamin B6 (6 percent DV)
* 45.7 milligrams phosphorus (5 percent DV)
* 0.1 milligrams copper (5 percent DV)
* 0.1 milligram manganese (5 percent DV)
* 0.1 milligram thiamine (4 percent DV)
* 0.9 milligram niacin (4 percent DV)
* 16.5 milligrams magnesium (4 percent DV)
How to Use Purple Potatoes
You can simply add boiling water to make a cup of purple potato soup.
You may add it to drinks, vitamin waters, ice cream and yogurt.
Purple potatoes are versatile but can become a little mushy if overcooked. Even though they have a rich, vibrant violet color, their flavor is more subtle than some other potato varieties. Because of this, unlike the sweet potato that’s delicious all by itself, the purple potato is usually prepared by adding seasonings. Keep in mind that boiling or baking is the best method versus deep frying, which kills any useful nutrients. Use a little coconut or olive oil with some salt and pepper for a delightful addition to any meal.