The Hidden Power of Cooking Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a big deal worldwide. They are packed with nutrients. People cook them in different ways, like baking, boiling, and steaming. These methods change how they taste and how our bodies use them. Scientists looked at how cooking changes sweet potatoes. They found over 3, 700 things inside them that don't evaporate when cooked. This gives a big picture of what's happening inside sweet potatoes when they are cooked. When comparing cooked and raw sweet potatoes, they found big differences. Steaming, boiling, and baking each change the sweet potato in unique ways. For example, steaming keeps the good stuff, like vitamins, safe and makes them easier for our bodies to use. The way sweet potatoes are cooked also changes how they break down and what our bodies get from them. For example, steaming keeps the color and nutrients better than other methods. This shows that how you cook sweet potatoes can make a big difference in what you get from them. All of this shows that cooking is not just about making food taste good. It also changes what's inside the food and how our bodies use it. So, next time you cook sweet potatoes, think about what you're doing to them and how it might change what you get from them.