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 big ’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?).  In any case, at this time a strain of purple sweet potato is being developed and tested as the latest superfood, and it already has scientists saying that the vegetable may actually stop people from getting cancer. Wow, that is apretty heavy claim to make about any item from any food group. The idea here is that the designer sweet potato, developed for its purple anti-cancer pigment, is also thought to contain within it some anti-ageing and antioxidant chemicals. A crop-development expert in the United States has developed this new variety of purple sweet potato with a thicker purple skin and flesh to increase its inherent cancer-fighting properties. 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 important 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 different types of food, can also be found in blueberries, red grapes and red cabbage, however 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 good not only for cancer prevention but other benefits like antioxidants as well.”

However, 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 scheduled to undergo a series of clinical trials through the next year.  Needless to say like I mentioned already, there have been so many other types of produce that have been the subject matter of claims as to their prospective health benefits, in spite of this 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 definitely a story that bears following as it develops through the next year.