All-Star of the Day: Carrots

Although today’s A-list vegetables are of the dark, leafy, and green variety, let’s not forget the mighty carrot.

These colorful root vegetables are super abundant in antioxidants known as carotenoids. Remember, anytime you see the word antioxidant, you need to associate that with “cancer-fighter”.

One famous carotenoid found in carrots is beta-carotene, which gets turned into Vitamin A in our livers. And what is Vitamin A good for? A lot of things, including keeping lungs, eyes (Vitamin A helps absorb light into our eyes), and skin healthy.

A 14-year Dutchy study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2005 found that people with high risks of developing macular degeneration of their eyes -- the leading cause of blindness for adults over 60 in the United States -- had that risk decreased by 35% when they consumed diets high in beta-carotene.

Carrots have SO much beta-carotene that the body can’t turn all of it into Vitamin A. The rest stays in its natural antioxidant form and sticks around as an immunity-system booster, making sure any free radicals (cancer-causing chemicals) are slowed down.

Next time you’re grocery shopping, keep in mind that the more orange the carrot, the more beta-carotene it contains.

That’s not all. In 1989, a team of biochemists at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan discovered that a carotenoid in carrots known as alpha-carotene played a significant role in slowing down the growth of many tumors.

Meanwhile, falcarinol, which is actually a natural pesticide produced by carrots, has been found to be quite powerful in lowering our risk of colon cancer.

One cup of carrots only clocks in at 30 calories but provides 650% of our Vitamin A and 20% of our Vitamin C needs, 4.5 grams of fiber, and 12% of our recommended potassium intake.

Before you break out the baby carrots and fat-free dip, though, here is some Nutrition 101.

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. Two important things to take from that. First, fat-soluble vitamins are stored for longer periods of time than water-soluble ones.

Vitamin C, for instance, is water-soluble. Have too much in one day and the body will urinate the excess rather quickly. It is important to consume water-soluble vitamins in a consistent fashion, since the body isn’t able to hold on to them for very long. Have a lot of Vitamin A one day and not as much the other and you’re still OK, since the body can hold it in the liver for a few days.

Most importantly, though, the body needs fat in order to absorb fat-soluble vitamins. So, when eating carrots, pair them up with healthy fats (whether it’s dipping baby carrots into hummus or adding some avocado to your spinach and carrot salad).

If you can’t get into the whole baby carrot snack habit, worry not -- cooked carrots offer even more nutrition than their raw counterparts. Research has shown that heat increases the antioxidant activity of Bugs Bunny’s staple.