Carrots |
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When you think of carrots the colour association is often orange. Then we often imagine feeding a horse a whole carrot. You may even have the pop up cartoon replay of bugs bunny asking “What’s up doc?” while munching on a carrot. The doc shouldn’t be dismissing those carrots. Parents have and hopefully still do often promote carrots for better eye sight. It’s not some clever adult trick to get any child to finish dinner as these root vegetables do enhance eye health in more ways than one.  As carrots contain carotene (made into vitamin A) and the eyes need vitamin A. Sometimes a case of poor vision is traceable to inadequate vitamin A levels. In addition there are other antioxidants (purple and yellow carrots are high in anthyociadin and leutin) that have been shown to directly protect us from blindness. These types of antioxidants are active in our eyes where they protect the eyes from free radicals, especially harmful ones from sunlight. When we lack a diet with more vegetables and fruit, we’re more susceptible to deficiency of various antioxidants. Cases of age-related macula degeneration (the eye becomes damaged leading to blindness in the elderly) may be beneficially avoided by taking preventative protection! Protect your eyes by consuming various antioxidants. Carrots, as is the story with many plant foods, house an assortment of antioxidants but can be favouring specific levels of certain kinds of antioxidants. Every antioxidant has general protective effects and specialises in certain protective effects. Carrots are amongst the highest carotene, especially beta-carotene, containing foods. Carotene is an antioxidant and there are different classes of carotene. The most popular is probably beta-carotene. As beta-carotene can be converted to vitamin A by our body it is especially valued. The best part is that the body will never convert it to excess levels. This means you can eat many carrots and not worry about getting vitamin A excess. Excess of vitamin A can lead to deformities in the foetus, which should make any pregnant (or trying to conceive) woman vigilant on her supplements. However, excess carotene from high carrot consumption can lead to carotenemia. The effect will be an orange-yellow hue to the skin and appears like jaundice (when the liver is compromised and not working well). Of course carotenemia is not jaundice and it disappears when one removes the excess consumption of carotene. If you like carrots and are worried about your health and eating too many, reduce your carrot intake when your skin appears yellow! Carrots contain many other nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin B and other antioxidants. Carrots are useful calcium suppliers! Never doubt how special a vegetable is in providing more than one nutrient. Indeed smoking depletes vitamin A levels and smokers could easily do with a daily serving of carrots. The great thing about carrots is that they can be eaten alone as raw sticks, grated with salad or cooked. When cooked we soften them and it makes them easier to chew while not at all degrading their carotene content thankfully! Try not forgetting mashed cooked carrots for babies. According studies it seems cooking carrots actually increases the availability of their nutrients for us to gain. When juiced it’s said by some to help the liver detoxify. This does not mean to go wild on carrot juice as all healthy things should be had in moderation. We may turn a helpful thing into an unwanted thing as we can easily abuse a substance. If we read the history pages we learn just how far the carrot family has progressed. Wild carrots are still in existence and popular in some parts of the world. Carrots are not only a food for us! They also have had medicinal uses. Were carrots always orange and why are they that colour? Originally farmed carrots were often purple and other colours exist such as black, red and yellow. Then the Dutch, as orange is their national colour, ‘invented’ the orange carrot. Farmers have always interbred species of plants to make new types. High carotene content gives it an orange hue. Don’t be fooled by green or red or purple vegetables and fruits, as they too may have high carotene. There’re white carrots, but they’re the least nutritious in the contest for antioxidant suppliers among carrots. Carrots are quick and sweet, to meet you in helping to guard your skin, immune system, lung and eye health. Anastacia Sampson DN Med |