With so many different fruits and vegetables we have seen it before: claims that this or that next type of produce is going to be the next huge ’superfood’. More recently with several different types of berries, for example, we have been told this by first scientists, then the media, and then finally by marketers. (who has not received at least one spam email heralding the merits of the acai berry?). Well at this moment a strain of sweet potato is being developed and tested as the latest superfoods, and it already has scientists saying that the vegetable may really stop people from developing cancer. Wow, that is apretty heavy claim to make about any item from any food group. The logic here is that the designer sweet potato, cultivated for its purple anti-cancer pigmentation, is also supposed to contain within it some anti-ageing and antioxidant chemicals. A new variety of purple sweet potato has been developed by agricultural experts in the US; the new variety boasts a somewhat thicker purple skin and flesh that is intended to increase the inherent cancer-fighting properties of the vegetable.. Soyoung Lim, a researcher from Kansas State University, said that it differed from purple sweet potato varieties currently found in most grocery retail outlets because both the newer potato’s flesh and skin were purple.

The chemical anthocyanin is believed to lower the risk of cancer and could even possibly be able to slow down the progression of certain forms of the disease, is contained in the purple potato’s coloring, according to Lim.. According to Lim, “The colour is the vital part because the purple colour is responsible for the amount of anthocyanin in the potato.” Scientists have already used two strands of anthocyanin to treat colon cancer and found that the pigment slowed down the growth of cancerous cells. Anthocyanin, which produces red, blue or purple colours in several types of food, can also be found in blueberries, red grapes and red cabbage, in spite of this the specially grown purple sweet potato has a higher concentration of the chemical than any other species of potato. Dr Weiqun Wang, who was also involved in testing the potato, has said that the new purple sweet potato tasted sweeter than other potatoes but was still perfectly edible. According to Wang, “It’s excellent not only for cancer prevention but other benefits like antioxidants as well.”

But, it might be quite a while before the new higher concentration variety of sweet potato is made available for consumption by the general public since it is first sceduled to undergo a series of clinical trials through the next year. Of course like I mentioned before, there have been so many other food stuffs that have been the topic of claims as to their potential health benefits, nevertheless I do not recall before any variety of food that was tagged with such a basic claim that carried with it such potentially major implications for human health and wellness. This is certainly a tale that bears following as it develops through the next year.

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