Carotenoids, more than meets the eye.

Photo: Peddhapati

Did your mother bribe you to eat your carrots to protect your eyes?

"Here honey, these mushy canned vegetables are magic!"  Ya right mom.

Here's the lowdown on carotenoids...

They need fat to be absorbed.  Olive oil anyone ;)

Carotenoids simplified = orange vegetables. (Eat the rainbow!)

They have Vitamin A activity and convert to retinol. 1 Cup of pumpkin has 245% of your daily value of Vitamin A.  Wo!

Vitamin A boosts your immune system

They also act as antioxidants

In your eyes carotenoids stop blue and near-ultraviolet light from being absorbed to protect your retina. These lights can also cause cataracts. Dang it my mom was right! The degeneration of the retina is the leading cause of blindness in adults.  Protect those eyes! Don your giant sunglasses and eat those orange vegetables.

Carotenoids help your cells to communicate with each other.  This is especially important because cancerous cells lose this ability.

Carotenoids may protect against Cardiovascular Disease as they are very fat soluble and travel with lipoproteins in your bloodstream.  They have shown some reduction in IMT halting or reversing atherosclerosis. (sorry, big science words...are you still here? whew!)  This seems to indicate an anti-inflammatory effect, which is one of our highest goals to fight our modern diseases.

Eat up!

Eat raw vegetables and gently cooked too.  To absorb all the nutrients you can.

Alpha-Carotene Content of Selected Foods
Food	Serving	Alpha-Carotene (mg)
Pumpkin, canned	1 cup	11.7
Carrot juice, canned	1 cup (8 fl oz)	10.2
Carrots, cooked	1 cup	5.9
Carrots, raw	1 medium	2.1
Mixed vegetables, frozen, cooked	1 cup	1.8
Winter squash, baked	1 cup	1.4
Plantains, raw	1 medium	0.8
Collards, frozen, cooked	1 cup	0.2
Tomatoes, raw	1 medium	0.1
Tangerines, raw	1 medium	0.09
Peas, edible-podded, frozen, cooked	1 cup	0.09

Beta-Carotene Content of Selected Foods
Food	Serving	Beta-Carotene (mg)
Carrot juice, canned	1 cup (8 fl oz)	22.0
Pumpkin, canned	1 cup	17.0
Spinach, frozen, cooked	1 cup	13.8
Sweet potato, baked	1 medium	13.1
Carrots, cooked	1 cup	13.0
Collards, frozen, cooked	1 cup	11.6
Kale, frozen, cooked	1 cup	11.5
Turnip greens, frozen, cooked	1 cup	10.6
Pumpkin pie	1 piece	7.4
Winter squash, cooked	1 cup	5.7
Carrots, raw	1 medium	5.1
Dandelion greens, cooked	1 cup	4.1
Cantaloupe, raw	1 cup	3.2

2.

Now where will we find some orange vegetables around here?

Photo: Liz West

Warnings:

"additional β-carotene from supplements is unlikely to be beneficial and may actually be harmful" 1.

Sources:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2601/2

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carotenoid

2. http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/carotenoids/