Why you should be eating sweet potatoes

In addition to being delicious, sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins which can support your overall health.

Sweet potatoes are easy to incorporate into your regular diet and offer a host of health benefits, including healthy hair.

Michelle Grainger, executive director of the North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission, explains why you should consider eating more sweet potatoes.

"Natural health and beauty care has seen a resurgence over the last few years, with a lot of us preferring to go au naturel, and hair care is no different," begins Michelle.

"There are a number of vitamins and minerals that can support strong, healthy hair, as part of a varied, balanced diet and healthy lifestyle," the expert continues. "Vitamin C supports the absorption of iron, an important contributor to healthy hair, helping red blood cells carry oxygen around the body to other cells, in this scenario, to your hair roots."

She adds, "What's more, vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation, which contains amino acids that are used to build keratin, the protein that hair is mostly made of."

In addition to vitamin C, the tasty root vegetables also contain B6 and copper.

"B6 is another notable vitamin for hair health, contributing to normal protein metabolism, supporting the keratin proteins in our strands," Michelle says. "Finally, copper contributes to normal hair pigmentation, meaning it can help hair maintain its natural colour."

Finally, the expert notes that sweet potatoes are a great food to add to your meals to promote a balanced, healthy diet.

"Sweet potatoes provide other vitamins offering more health benefits and count as one of your five a day," she added.