What Happens to Your Blood Pressure When You Eat Sweet Potatoes Every Day?

Eating a variety of nutrient-rich foods is the best way to support your body through diet (as the saying goes, eat the rainbow!), but it’s also true that most people are creatures of routine. Especially when it comes to breakfast and lunch, many of us have either one or a few go-to meals we have every day, or at least multiple times a week.If one of your go-to foods is sweet potatoes, you may be wondering how eating them regularly is impacting your health, for better or for worse. Sweet potatoes are one food that is often recommended to people with high blood pressure because they’re such a heart-healthy choice. But how does eating sweet potatoes every day impact blood pressure?

Why Sweet Potatoes Are a Heart-Healthy Choice 

Michelle Routhenstein, RD, CDE, CND, a cardiovascular dietitian and the owner of Entirely Nourished, says there are several reasons why sweet potatoes are a heart-healthy food. One reason, she explains, is that they’re packed with fiber. One sweet potato has about four grams of the nutrient. Fiber isn’t just good for your gut. Scientific studies show that a high-fiber diet is beneficial for weight management, which lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease. Lena Beal, MS, RDN, LD, CCTD, a registered dietitian nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, reveals that another reason why sweet potatoes are a heart-healthy food is that they’re high in potassium, which helps counter the effects of sodium and supports healthy blood pressure.

“One medium sweet potato provides over 400 milligrams of potassium, which is about 10% of the daily recommended intake. The mineral potassium works by relaxing blood vessel walls and helping the kidneys excrete excess sodium, which in turn reduces blood pressure,” Beal explains. Cardiovascular dietitian Erin Sheehan, RDN, LND, adds to this, saying that sweet potatoes’ high potassium content is one reason why they are part of the DASH diet, an eating plan formulated to help people lower their blood pressure. “The DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) recommends 4,700 milligrams of potassium per day, and sweet potatoes are an easy, whole-food way to contribute to that goal,” she continues.

Sheehan says that sweet potatoes also contain magnesium, which supports maintaining healthy blood pressure levels, and they contain heart-healthy antioxidants as well.

How Eating Sweet Potatoes Every Day Can Impact Blood Pressure

It bears repeating that eating a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods is best for health, including cardiovascular health. That said, it’s perfectly safe—and healthy—to eat sweet potatoes regularly, even every day. If you make a sweet potato part of your daily diet, it will impact your heart health—specifically, your blood pressure.“Eating sweet potatoes regularly helps to lower blood pressure because the potassium in them balances sodium levels in the body, relaxing blood vessels and reducing strain on the heart,” Routhenstein says, echoing what Beal explained earlier. This means that if you eat a sweet potato every day, you will likely see your blood pressure go down—as long as the rest of your diet is healthy, of course. 

If you want your sweet potato to benefit your heart health even more, Routhenstein recommends topping it with walnuts and cinnamon, two other heart-healthy foods. Walnuts are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are linked to lowering cholesterol, while cinnamon is high in antioxidants and is a way to give a sweet flavor to your meal without spiking blood sugar levels. Routhenstein adds that the walnuts help the body absorb more of the sweet potato’s beta-carotene, a fat-soluble antioxidant.

Tips for Keeping Sweet Potatoes Heart-Healthy

How you cook your sweet potato matters. Sheehan recommends baking or air-frying your sweet potato with just a little olive oil or avocado oil, which are both excellent sources of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. 

“For flavor without added sugar or salt, season with herbs and spices like cinnamon, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, rosemary or thyme. For baked sweet potatoes, skip the butter and sour cream in favor of a dollop of plain Greek yogurt, fresh herbs, salsa or a bit of mashed avocado,” Sheehan says, offering up some heart-healthy ways to add more flavor to your meal. 

Beal and Sheehan both say to avoid loading your sweet potato with butter, brown sugar or marshmallows, which can all take away from its nutritional benefits.

As long as you’re mindful of how you prepare and add flavor to your sweet potato, it can help lower blood pressure when eaten regularly. Just don’t forget all the other heart-healthy foods out there. Sweet potatoes are yummy, but they aren’t the only way to support your cardiovascular health!