Sweet potatoes are not just one of the healthiest and cheapest sources of nutrition; the predominant protein is a type of protease inhibitor that may have cancer-fighting properties.
Flashback Friday: Anti-Cancer Potential of Sweet Potato Proteins
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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Sweet potatoes can be “considered…a superfood”—one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet. And, one day, perhaps, even off the planet, as NASA has chosen it for space missions. One of the healthiest and cheapest. This study aimed to identify which vegetables “provided the most nutrients per [dollar].”
If you look at a graph of affordability versus nutrition, you can see that the healthiest foods, like dark green leafy vegetables, may also be among the cheapest. And the highest nutrient-rich food scores per dollar were obtained for sweet potatoes.
They’re not just packed with nutrition, but may have special cancer-fighting properties. In 1931, a unique protein was discovered in sweet potatoes. Later renamed, 80% of the protein in sweet potatoes is a type of protease inhibitor, with potential anticancer effects.
It was originally tested against leukemia cells, and appears to suppress the growth of leukemia cells in a petri dish. But, how would a sweet potato protein ever get into our bloodstream? As soon as most proteins hit our stomach, they start getting digested. So, they tried sweet potato protein against tongue cancer. Sweet potato constituents certainly come in contact with our mouth. Tongue cancer is often treated with chemo. “However, most of the chemo…[drugs] for tongue cancer have great aversive side effects, so it is indispensable for us to find [other] therapeutic strateg[ies].”
Sweet potato protein rapidly diminished viability of the cancer within a matter of days, leading them to propose that sweet potato “may be useful…for human tongue cancer”—but, presumably, not much else?
Remarkably, though, this class of proteins doesn’t just survive digestion, but may be absorbed into the bloodstream intact, in at least two of the nine women with advanced cervical cancer they tried giving them to. So, most recently it was tried on colorectal cancer cells, one of our most common and deadly cancers.
Normally, we just surgically remove the colon. But, that only works in the early stages, since there are often micrometastases outside the colon that can subsequently lead to cancer recurrence and death. And so, we’ve started searching for anti-metastatic agents. And not only does sweet potato protein slow down the growth of colon cancer cells, but decreases cancer cell “migration and invasion.” Though sweet potato consumption has been associated with lower gallbladder cancer rates, it’s never been directly put to the test. But, what’s the downside?
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- A C Bovell-Benjamin. Sweet potato: A review of its past, present, and future role in human nutrition. Adv Food Nutr Res 2007 52:1 – 59.
- A Drewnowski. New metrics of affordable nutrition: Which vegetables provide most nutrients for least cost? J Acad Nutr Diet 2013 113(9):1182 – 1187.
- K Ren, J Qiu, X Wang, F Niu, T Jiang. The effect of a sweet potato, footbath, and acupressure intervention in preventing constipation in hospitalized patients with acute coronary syndromes. Gastroenterol Nurs 2012 35(4):271 – 277.
- P G Li, T H Mu, L Deng. Anticancer effects of sweet potato protein on human colorectal cancer cells. World J Gastroenterol. 2013 19(21):3300 – 3308.
- P S Bahado-Singh, C K Riley, A O Wheatley, H I C Lowe. Relationship between Processing Method and the Glycemic Indices of Ten Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) Cultivars Commonly Consumed in Jamaica. J Nutr Metab 2011 2011:584832.
- R Senthilkumar, K W Yeh. Multiple biological functions of sporamin related to stress tolerance in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam). Biotechnol Adv 2012 30(6):1309 – 1317.
- M Pandey, V K Shukla. Diet and gallbladder cancer: A case-control study. Eur J Canc Prev 2002 11(4):365 – 368.
- J Yao, C Qian. Sporamin induce apoptosis in human tongue carcinoma cells by down-regulating Akt/GSK-3 signaling. Fundam Clin Pharmacol 2011 25(2):229 - 236
- D Breese Jones, C E F Gersdorff. Ipomoein, a globulin from sweet potatoes, ipomoea batatas: Isolation of a secondary protein derived from ipomeo. J Biol Chem 1931 93:119 – 126.
- C D Wilson, R D Pace, E Bromfield, G Jones, J Y Lu. Consumer acceptance of vegetarian sweet potato products intended for space missions. Life Support Biosph Sci 1998 5(3):339 – 346.
- GJ Huang, MJ Sheu, HJ Chen, YS Chang, YH Lin. Growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in NB4 promyelocytic leukemia cells by trypsin inhibitor from sweet potato storage roots. J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Apr 4;55(7):2548-53.
- H Kobayashi, T Yagyu, K Inagaki, T Kondo, M Suzuki, N Kanayama, T Terao. Therapeutic efficacy of once-daily oral administration of a Kunitz-type protease inhibitor, bikunin, in a mouse model and in human cancer. Cancer. 2004 Feb 15;100(4):869-77.
Images thanks to chefkeem via Pixabay
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Sweet potatoes can be “considered…a superfood”—one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet. And, one day, perhaps, even off the planet, as NASA has chosen it for space missions. One of the healthiest and cheapest. This study aimed to identify which vegetables “provided the most nutrients per [dollar].”
If you look at a graph of affordability versus nutrition, you can see that the healthiest foods, like dark green leafy vegetables, may also be among the cheapest. And the highest nutrient-rich food scores per dollar were obtained for sweet potatoes.
They’re not just packed with nutrition, but may have special cancer-fighting properties. In 1931, a unique protein was discovered in sweet potatoes. Later renamed, 80% of the protein in sweet potatoes is a type of protease inhibitor, with potential anticancer effects.
It was originally tested against leukemia cells, and appears to suppress the growth of leukemia cells in a petri dish. But, how would a sweet potato protein ever get into our bloodstream? As soon as most proteins hit our stomach, they start getting digested. So, they tried sweet potato protein against tongue cancer. Sweet potato constituents certainly come in contact with our mouth. Tongue cancer is often treated with chemo. “However, most of the chemo…[drugs] for tongue cancer have great aversive side effects, so it is indispensable for us to find [other] therapeutic strateg[ies].”
Sweet potato protein rapidly diminished viability of the cancer within a matter of days, leading them to propose that sweet potato “may be useful…for human tongue cancer”—but, presumably, not much else?
Remarkably, though, this class of proteins doesn’t just survive digestion, but may be absorbed into the bloodstream intact, in at least two of the nine women with advanced cervical cancer they tried giving them to. So, most recently it was tried on colorectal cancer cells, one of our most common and deadly cancers.
Normally, we just surgically remove the colon. But, that only works in the early stages, since there are often micrometastases outside the colon that can subsequently lead to cancer recurrence and death. And so, we’ve started searching for anti-metastatic agents. And not only does sweet potato protein slow down the growth of colon cancer cells, but decreases cancer cell “migration and invasion.” Though sweet potato consumption has been associated with lower gallbladder cancer rates, it’s never been directly put to the test. But, what’s the downside?
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- A C Bovell-Benjamin. Sweet potato: A review of its past, present, and future role in human nutrition. Adv Food Nutr Res 2007 52:1 – 59.
- A Drewnowski. New metrics of affordable nutrition: Which vegetables provide most nutrients for least cost? J Acad Nutr Diet 2013 113(9):1182 – 1187.
- K Ren, J Qiu, X Wang, F Niu, T Jiang. The effect of a sweet potato, footbath, and acupressure intervention in preventing constipation in hospitalized patients with acute coronary syndromes. Gastroenterol Nurs 2012 35(4):271 – 277.
- P G Li, T H Mu, L Deng. Anticancer effects of sweet potato protein on human colorectal cancer cells. World J Gastroenterol. 2013 19(21):3300 – 3308.
- P S Bahado-Singh, C K Riley, A O Wheatley, H I C Lowe. Relationship between Processing Method and the Glycemic Indices of Ten Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) Cultivars Commonly Consumed in Jamaica. J Nutr Metab 2011 2011:584832.
- R Senthilkumar, K W Yeh. Multiple biological functions of sporamin related to stress tolerance in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam). Biotechnol Adv 2012 30(6):1309 – 1317.
- M Pandey, V K Shukla. Diet and gallbladder cancer: A case-control study. Eur J Canc Prev 2002 11(4):365 – 368.
- J Yao, C Qian. Sporamin induce apoptosis in human tongue carcinoma cells by down-regulating Akt/GSK-3 signaling. Fundam Clin Pharmacol 2011 25(2):229 - 236
- D Breese Jones, C E F Gersdorff. Ipomoein, a globulin from sweet potatoes, ipomoea batatas: Isolation of a secondary protein derived from ipomeo. J Biol Chem 1931 93:119 – 126.
- C D Wilson, R D Pace, E Bromfield, G Jones, J Y Lu. Consumer acceptance of vegetarian sweet potato products intended for space missions. Life Support Biosph Sci 1998 5(3):339 – 346.
- GJ Huang, MJ Sheu, HJ Chen, YS Chang, YH Lin. Growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in NB4 promyelocytic leukemia cells by trypsin inhibitor from sweet potato storage roots. J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Apr 4;55(7):2548-53.
- H Kobayashi, T Yagyu, K Inagaki, T Kondo, M Suzuki, N Kanayama, T Terao. Therapeutic efficacy of once-daily oral administration of a Kunitz-type protease inhibitor, bikunin, in a mouse model and in human cancer. Cancer. 2004 Feb 15;100(4):869-77.
Images thanks to chefkeem via Pixabay
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Flashback Friday: Anti-Cancer Potential of Sweet Potato Proteins
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite snacks. During the harsh Boston winters, I used to put two freshly microwaved sweet potatoes in my coat pockets as natural hand-warmers. And then when they cooled down, my hand warmers became instant healthy snacks!
More videos on getting the most nutrition for your dollar:
For an overview on our #2 killer, How Not to Die from Cancer.
I thought these sweet potato videos might be fun to pull out around the holidays. Are sweet potatoes best steamed? Should we eat the skin? Find out in my recent Flashback Friday video: The Best Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes.
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