Health Benefits of Eating Yams. Yam is a common staple food in many parts of the world including Nigeria due to its nutritious value and ease of preparation. This popular food can be eaten in different forms and combined with several other meals. However, there are indications that yam comes with a number of health benefits. In this post, we will look at some common health benefits of eating yams.
Health Benefits of Eating Yams
1. Aids Weight Loss
Yam has been found to contain glucomannan, a powerful dietary fiber that turns into a gel that can linger in your stomach, helping you stay full all through the day. This feeling of fullness from the lingering glucomannan gel helps you keep you food cravings at bay.
2. Helps Fight Inflammation
The outer back of most yam species contain saponin. Saponin helps you fight inflammation and their attendant pains.
3. Helps Prevent Cancer
Studies have shown that diosgenin, an anticarcinogenic agent found in yams can help prevent different types of cancers. This is because this diosgenin has both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
4. Promotes Fertility
Results from different researches show that yam can help boost your fertility. This can be linked to the discovery that certain species of yam contain some natural progesterone and other fertility hormones.
5. Helps Treat Diabetes
Diabetes, a condition caused by a reduction in insulin secretion in the body and sometimes from increased resistance to insulin can be treated with yam. Researches have shown that yam can aid glucose metabolism. Also, the natural sugar contained in yams can add some natural sweetness to your diets, thus reducing your cravings for artificial sugars.
6. Loaded With Nutrition
Yams are very rich in essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals and fiber. These essential nutrients support bone growth, heart health and functions, and metabolism.
7. Enhances Your Brain Function
According to reliable researches, students who take yam and its derivatives perform better in exams than people who don’t. This can be linked to the fact that the diosgenin in yam also help promote neuron growth and boost brain functions.
8. Eases Menstrual and Menopausal Symptoms
Women have been found to experience less menstrual and menopausal symptoms when their yam intakes increases. This can be linked to the obvious boost in estrogen levels following increased yam consumption.
9. Reduces Blood Sugar Levels
Studies have shown that increased yam consumption leads to higher and better sugar controls in your body. This is because the resistant starches and fibers found in yam help reduce blood sugar absorption.
10. Improved Digestive Health
According to studies, the resistant starch found in yams can increase the amount of digestive exams in your gut. These digestive enzymes help break down the foods you eat and increase the number of healthy bacteria found in your gut.
Yams come in different colors, shapes and sizes. You can always find a specie that appeals to you to enable you enjoy all these numerous health benefits they bring. The fact that yams are as versatile as they are easy to prepare make them ideal for your daily diet plans.
