Yams Vs. Sweet Potatos: What's the Difference?

A friend of mine just asked me a great question: what's the difference between a yam and a sweet potato- is one healthier than the other? Since i have a recipe for sweet potato fries on the blog, I thought maybe this is something I should have an idea about... So I searched across the internet for a consolidated comparison and here's what I was able to come up with.

Nutrition: I made a chart to compare the two side by side and the winner seems to be the Sweet Potato... here's the breakdown

• Looking solely at calories, Sweet Potatoes win w 95 cals in 1 cup vs 157 cals in a cup of Yams
  
• Looking at nutrients- there are two nutrients that Sweet Potatoes have that Yams do not. One is Vitamin A, the other is Iron. 1 medium Sweet Potato has over 250% of your daily value of Vit A and over 10% of your daily value of iron. That alone makes me want to eat 1 a week.
  
• Vit A- When you consume the sweet potato, your body converts the Beta-carotene in it into Vitamin A which helps keeps eye, skin, and mucous membranes moist. It also acts as an antioxidant that protects the cells in your body from free-radical damage.
• Iron- If you're like me and "bruise like a peach", it's possible it's due to insufficient iron levels in your body. Iron helps carry oxygen to cells to keep them healthy & functioning.

• Outside of those two, Yams & Sweet Potatoes have about the same %DV of Vitamin C (you know, what you want to get more of to help fight off the common cold) & Maganese (the mineral that helps metabolize carbohydrates)
• Each also contains between 10-15% of your daily value of Vitamin B6 which the body needs to break down an enzyme called homocysteine- This is great news since homocysteine is an enzyme that directly damages blood vessel walls- Yikes!

So there you have it, both have Vit C, Maganese, B6 and fiber; however, because the Sweet Potato also contains Vitamin A and Iron, I'm calling it the winner. So go check out my delicious Sweet Potato Fries Recipe and do your body some good!


Fun Facts: Granted, I mostly care about the nutrition, but still the biological differences are kinda cool and let's face it, random facts are fun.
The biggest difference seems to fall in their DNA. They're both flowering plants but they aren't related botanically. Kind of interesting since they look so similar. Yams come from Africa & Asia and tend to be starchier & drier than sweet potatoes. In supermarkets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term 'yam' to also include the term 'sweet potato'. Actual yams are found for the most part in international super markets.



http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/sweetpotato.html
http://www.whfoods.com/