Sweet potato for type 2

There was this interesting article I found in Prevention magazine that was talking about a sweet potato, of all things, that could help diabetes type 2. I was surprised because potatoes are, well, starchy, right? This obviously isn't an ordinary potato. Here's the text of that article:

In the mountainous Kagawa region of Japan, home to olive trees and cuckoo birds, a white sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) eaten raw has long been a traditional treatment for anemia, hypertension, and diabetes.

Now marketed in Japan as a food additive for diabetes prevention and treatment, the tuber extract, called Caiapo, has attracted the attention of European researchers.

So far, this sweet-potato extract shows promise. In a joint Austrian and Italian study of 61 people with type 2 diabetes, those who took 4g of Caiapo daily for 3 months saw blood sugar drop 15 points -- a modest fall that could allow diabetics to reduce or even quit their blood sugar-lowering meds. Cholesterol and triglycerides also fell slightly.

It will be awhile before we're able to see it in the U.S., but it's nice to know there are natural remedies out there.