Carrots are considered to be one of the most important cultivated vegetable crops in history and the most popular root vegetable worldwide. Whether they are eaten raw, cooked or as carrot juice, people from nearly every culture have consumed carrots — in their many forms — throughout history.
They get their orange color from antioxidants called carotenoids. One of these carotenoids is beta-carotene, a precursor to active vitamin A that is responsible for many of the carrot and carrot juice benefits that we know about today.
What are the benefits of eating carrots? Many studies have shown that beta-carotene is crucial for improving immunity in the body, protecting skin and eye health, and fighting free radical damage that can cause various forms of chronic diseases, such as cancer and heart disease.
They have a wealth of valuable nutrition, and when you juice them you get a concentrated dose of their healing power. Reducing cholesterol and triglycerides, relieving congestion and constipation, and protecting eyesight and skin health are some of the many benefits attributed to drinking carrot juice.
What Are Carrots?
Carrots (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) are a type of root vegetable — like the purple potato — in the Apiaceae plant family. They have been providing nutrients to populations for thousands of years, with records showing that the first modern-day carrot varieties were consumed around the 10th Century in parts of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Even before that time, many types of wild carrots (some sources say 80 different kinds) were eaten in countries like Persia, Turkey, Iran and areas in the Asia Minor.
Want to know a little known fact? Carrots are one of the highest contributors of vitamin A — the powerhouse vitamin for so much of our body — in the American diet. They also provide ample amounts of vitamins C, D, E and K, as well as many minerals ,such as magnesium, potassium and calcium.
They are also highly nutritious and cleansing due to their high fiber content. Studies show that carrot intake may enhance the immune system, protect against stroke, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, cataracts arthritis, heart diseases, bronchial asthma and urinary tract infections.
Types of Carrots
While known for their signature orange color, they actually come in a variety of colors. Yellow, white, red and purple carrots are now becoming available in more grocery stores and local farmers’ markets.
Today there are two main types of cultivated carrots: Eastern/Asiatic (which are often called anthocyanin carrots because of their purple roots) and Western (which are orange colored and are sometimes called carotene carrots).
Eastern varieties are usually found in Afghanistan, Russia, Iran and India, while Western types are found in Europe, North and South America. Both types belong to the species Daucus carota and offer similar health benefits.
Compared to carrots that were grown thousands of years ago, modern-day varieties are thought to be sweeter, more attractive in appearance, and better able to defend themselves from pests and bugs while growing.
When researchers tested levels of phenolic compounds in different types of carrots, they found that chlorogenic acid was the most predominant among 27 different types identified. Concentrations of vitamin C, alpha- and beta-carotenes, and certain flavor characteristics varied among the colored carrot varieties examined.
For example, purple types contained 2.2 and 2.3 times more alpha- and beta-carotenes than orange varieties.
Carrot Nutrition Facts
Carrots are some of the best vitamin A foods plus is an important high-fiber food.
A one-cup serving of chopped, raw carrots (about 128 grams) contains approximately:
- Calories: 52.5
- Total Carbohydrates: 12.3 g
- Fiber: 3.6 g
- Sugar: 6.1 g
- Total Fat: 0.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.04 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1 g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 0.02 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Protein: 1.2 g
- Sodium: 88.2 mg (4% DV)
- Vitamin A: 1,070 mcg (119% DV)
- Vitamin K: 16.9 mcg (14% DV)
- Vitamin B6: 0.2 mg (12% DV)
- Potassium: 410 mg (9% DV)
- Thiamine: 0.1 mg (8% DV)
- Niacin: 1.3 mg (8% DV)
*Daily Value: Percentages are based on a diet of 2,000 calories a day.
Some people avoid carrots because they believe they are high in sugar and will raise blood glucose. However, this advice isn’t supported by research.
One cup of raw carrots contains only about 10 grams of carbohydrate and almost four grams of fiber. The fiber in the vegetable helps slow down the release of sugars, in the form of glucose, into the bloodstream.
Including them in a healthy diet can even be safe for someone who has diabetes because they prevent any drastic increases in blood sugar. That being said, diabetics, or anyone else who may have trouble balancing blood sugar levels, should limit their consumption of carrot juice, as juicing carrots can concentrate the sugar in the vegetable because this process removes the protective fiber.
Carrot juice is a bit higher in carbohydrates than raw carrots, but also a more concentrated source of vitamin A, C, K, B6 and potassium.
A one-cup serving of carrot juice (approximately 236 grams) provides about:
- Calories: 94.4
- Total Carbohydrates: 21.9 g
- Fiber: 1.9 g
- Sugar: 9.2 g
- Total Fat: 0.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.1 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2 g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 0.02 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Protein: 2.2 g
- Sodium: 156 mg (7% DV)
- Vitamin A: 2,260 mcg (251% DV)
- Vitamin K: 36.6 mcg (31% DV)
- Vitamin B6: 0.5 mg (29% DV)
- Vitamin C: 20.1 mg (22% DV)
- Potassium: 689 mg (15% DV)
*Daily Value: Percentages are based on a diet of 2,000 calories a day.
Health Benefits
1. Protects Eye Health
Three crucial nutrients — beta carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin — within carrots considerably boost eye health by helping to maintain good eyesight and night vision. For example, without beta-carotene (a form of vitamin A), various forms of eye disorders can occur — including macular degeneration and even blindness.
Lutein and zeaxanthin, meanwhile, both work to reduce the risk of age-related vision loss.
Just one cup of chopped carrots provides over 100 percent of your vitamin A needs! They contain vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene.
Vitamin A is one of the most crucial nutrients necessary for protecting eye health and vision, especially as someone ages.
Vitamin A deficiency can lead first to night blindness, then permanent blindness. In fact, it is actually the No. 1 cause of preventable blindness worldwide.
Carrots can also reduce your risk of cataracts and macular degeneration, a common cause of age-related vision loss.
Eating them regularly will help you maintain healthy eyes and vision throughout your life. If consuming the vegetable in raw form does not appeal to you, bear in mind that drinking carrot juice carries over the same eye health benefits.
2. High Source of Antioxidants (Especially Carotenoids/Beta-Carotene)
Carotenoids, found in carrots and other orange vegetables, are potent antioxidants that can help reduce your risk of various forms of temporary illnesses and serious chronic diseases. Carrots and carrot juice benefit the immune system by helping to defend the body from free radical damage, harmful bacteria, viruses and inflammation.
The antioxidants that are responsible for the immune-enhancing effects include: vitamin C, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin and polyphenols. Carrots are one of the highest natural sources of carotenoid phytochemicals and antioxidant beta-carotene, both of which studies suggest may help fight cancer by stopping DNA damage, levels of inflammation and cell mutation.
They also contain some succinic acid, α-ketoglutaric acid, lactic acid, glycolic acid and caffeic acid (the most predominant phenolic acid in most carrots).
3. Decreases Risk for Heart Disease and Stroke
Eating more deeply colored orange vegetables like carrots can help decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. Regardless of other cardiovascular risks, research indicates that drinking carrot juice benefits heart health by lowering oxidative stress and improves the body’s defense against various forms of cardiovascular disease.
High plasma levels of alpha- and beta-carotene are also associated with a lower risk of atherosclerosis.
This effect is likely due to the high antioxidant and high fiber content that carrots contain. They work to lower cholesterol and boost bile production, which increases the body’s ability to digest fat.
They are a good source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. This not only helps your digestive system to properly absorb nutrition from your food, but also directly impacts the good cholesterol levels in your body.
Fiber can help to remove excess LDL cholesterol from the walls of arteries and blood vessels. Additionally, they provide potassium, which is beneficial for maintaining healthy blood pressure.
4. Helps Protect Against Cancer
Evidence suggests that consuming high levels of carotenoids from fruits and vegetables can be protective in relation to cancer recurrence. Studies show that these antioxidants in carrots may be able to fight leukemia cells and may play a role in reducing your risk of some of the most widespread types of cancers, including prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and breast cancer.
One study observed the effects of women with a history of breast cancer consuming eight ounces of fresh orange juice and carrot juice daily for a three-week period. These results showed that daily intake of fresh carrot juice benefited the body’s defenses against cancer and was an effective approach to increasing levels of protective antioxidant carotenoids in the blood, which reduce oxidative stress that can promote cancer growth.
A 2018 meta-analysis that investigated the association between dietary carrot intake and risk of breast cancer concluded, “Overall current literatures suggested that dietary carrot intake was associated with decreased risk of breast cancer.”
Other research also suggests that carrot benefits for men include the ability to decrease a man’s risk for prostate cancer. A number of studies also have shown that eating carrots may play a major role in the prevention of gastric cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality.
Additionally, carrot juice extract has been suggested as a potential treatment for leukaemia due to its “anti-cancer agents” including polyacetylenes (falcarinol, falcarindiol and falcarindiol-3-acetate) and carotenoids (beta-carotene and lutein).
5. Important for Maintaining Oral Health
The nutrients found in carrots help improve immunity, including the body’s ability to fight bacteria and toxins that enter through the mouth and live within the gums and teeth. Certain minerals in the vegetable can be antibacterial and help prevent cavities and tooth decay.
They can also help remove plaque and stains from teeth if eaten after meals. Once eaten, the fiber also boosts immunity by acting as a natural “digestive system brush,” fighting constipation, scrubbing away unwanted bacteria in the gut, and promoting better digestion of immune-boosting nutrients.
6. Boosts Skin Health and Wound Healing
Carrot benefits for skin are due to the presence of compounds including beta-carotene, lutein and lycopene. Beta-carotene is critical for healing wounds, which is why carrots have even been used as a remedy to help heal wounds for centuries.
If you have any type of skin infection, cuts or other wounds, you’ll find that carrots and carrot juice benefits your skin health by increasing your ability to heal faster, fight infections and even reduce signs of skin inflammation.
7. Protects Brain Health and Cognitive Function
Benefits may also include boosting brain health by helping to prevent against Alzheimer’s disease, improving memory, and defending against other types of cognitive decline. This is due to carrot’s ability to lower oxidative stress in the brain that can weaken nerve signaling capacity.
Disclaimer: The above-mentioned information is for reference purposes only