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I regularly eat raw sweet potato on the car ride home after karate. I view it the same as eating raw carrot. Are there any potential issues with eating raw sweet potato?

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I'm not sure how bad it would be for you, but to break down the starch and actually be able to derive most of the nutrients from it cooking is important. How's your digestion after eating raw sweet potato, seems like a recipe for a stomach ache and bloating to me? – Happy Now Oct 15 at 8:34
I haven't noticed any issues with digestion afterwards but then again I am trying to sort out issues with magnesium absorption aswell so I sort of have a few variables up in the air. – Jay Killeen Oct 15 at 11:54

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Found this little gem with a bit of googling (scroll down a ways until you get to sweet potatoes) http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0207E/T0207E08.htm

"There is a significant correlation between the trypsin inhibitor content and the protein content of the sweet potato variety. Heating to 90°C for several minutes inactivates trypsin inhibitors. Lawrence and Walker (1976) have implicated TIA in sweet potato as a contributory factor in the disease enteritis necroticans. This seems doubtful since sweet potato is not usually eaten raw and the activity of the trypsin inhibitor present is destroyed by heat."

There is also a blurb about the fartiness of raffinose in sweet potatoes, but I'd be more concerned about enteritis necroticans, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning that causes gangrene of the gut.

Long story short, cook those puppies before eating them!

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Awesome thank you Happy Now! I'll be sure to cook these guys up beforehand in future. On the cooking side, is it fair to just nuke it in the microwave if I am in a hurry. I would love to be able to cook in grass fed butter like the Caveman Doctor recommends but don't always have the time. I originally picked this up listening to Robb Wolf on the Paleo Solution Podcast say that he brings sweet potato to BJJ but he wasn't clear whether it was cooked or not. I am trying not to make too many assumption about the information I am getting, I am very glad you guys have clarified this for me. Cheers! – Jay Killeen Oct 15 at 11:56
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 You'll definitely hit that temperature mark in the microwave. I nuke 'em all the time, and they actually keep quite well for later in the day if put in a non-squishable container (you'll want more than foil, trust me, I've cleaned an embarrassing amount of sweet potato out of backpacks). You can also sort of inject a few generous pats of butter in there if you wait for it to cool a bit, and then slice the side open just enough to put the butter in and squish it shut again. Then when you are ready to eat, just peel the skin away like it is the foil on a burrito. – Happy Now Oct 15 at 18:55
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This seems like a really good way to give yourself serious potentially long-lasting GI issues.

No, eating a raw carrot is not the same as eating a raw sweet potato. Carrots have very little starch. A potato is essentially a starch bomb.

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Thanks for the clarification BonebrothFast! – Jay Killeen Oct 15 at 11:57
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With regard to the question of mature edible Yam's being toxic...

As the previous contributor posted the following link..

http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0207E/T0207E08.htm

I'm wondering if the last paragraph of that link clears up the question regarding Yam?

"Yam..

"The edible, mature, cultivated yam does not contain any toxic principles..."

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So according to the link, Sweet potato is apparently problematic yet Yam is not?!? It seems a little convoluted to me. – kevin Mar 30 at 18:44
sweet potato and yam are completely different plants. – AxialGentleman Mar 31 at 0:57

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