October 30, 2014

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
FoodServingAlpha-Carotene (mg)
Pumpkin, canned1 cup11.7
Carrot juice, canned1 cup (8 fl oz)10.2
Carrots, cooked1 cup5.9
Carrots, raw1 medium2.1
Mixed vegetables, frozen, cooked1 cup1.8
Winter squash, baked1 cup1.4
Plantains, raw1 medium0.8
Collards, frozen, cooked1 cup0.2
Tomatoes, raw1 medium0.1
Tangerines, raw1 medium0.09
Peas, edible-podded, frozen, cooked1 cup0.09

Beta-Carotene Content of Selected Foods
FoodServingBeta-Carotene (mg)
Carrot juice, canned1 cup (8 fl oz)22.0
Pumpkin, canned1 cup17.0
Spinach, frozen, cooked1 cup13.8
Sweet potato, baked1 medium13.1
Carrots, cooked1 cup13.0
Collards, frozen, cooked1 cup11.6
Kale, frozen, cooked1 cup11.5
Turnip greens, frozen, cooked1 cup10.6
Pumpkin pie1 piece7.4
Winter squash, cooked1 cup5.7
Carrots, raw1 medium5.1
Dandelion greens, cooked1 cup4.1
Cantaloupe, raw1 cup3.2
2.

Now where will we find some orange vegetables around here?



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/

No comments:

Post a Comment