Carrot effect on bodily functions

Nutrition - part 2 - bodily functions

PLEASE NOTE: The Carrot Museum does not recommend self diagnosis or self medication. The information contained in this web site has not been verified for correctness. Some of the information contained herein is hearsay and may not be correct. Use the information from this page only at your own risk! If in doubt consult a doctor.
Note: If you have diabetes it is recommended you read this before eating carrots.

Nutrition Page 1 deals with pigment power, the goodness of carrots, what happens if you eat too many and carrot allergy.
Nutrition Page 3 examines medicinal uses and alternative medicine associated with carrots and carrot analysis.

Navigation of this page:

Help your stomach

Diabetes

The Carrot Museum recommends eating foods which encourage the body to heal itself

Carrots are more nutritious when cut by a knife! - read here.

Eating carrots cooked with a little oil or fat encourages carotene absorption.

Note: Cooked carrots have considerably higher levels of antioxidants than uncooked, probably because heat breaks down the active compounds and makes them more available.

Carrots assist in keeping the body healthy in many areas including boosting immunity, healing minor wounds with its antiseptic qualities, reducing the risk of high blood pressure, fighting infection, improving and maintaing eye health and a general internal body cleanser.

Fight Cancer

a healthy bunch of carrots Your mother may have told you that carrots will make your eyes sharper, but that's not the only power of carrots.

According to Swedish researchers, eating plenty of carrots can lower your risk for lung cancer. A recent study found that although non-smokers have a lower risk of developing lung cancer than smokers do, non-smokers who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables can decrease that risk even more.

Non-smokers with a high vegetable intake lower their risk by about 30 percent. Those who eat a lot of non-citrus fruits lower their risk by about 40 percent. But the real wonder vegetable appears to be carrots.

Vitamin A helps normal cell reproduction. When cells do not reproduce (differentiate) window carrot Studies have found that eating a lot of carrots is a strong indicator of lower cancer risk. That's probably because carrots are a valuable source of a wide variety of substances in food called carotenoids with exotic names like cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin. Carotenoids provide a wealth of health benefits, including protection from the damages of free radicals that have been linked to cancer. As antioxidants, they can help fight cancers of the bladder, larynx, esophagus, stomach, colon/rectum and prostate. Beta carotene is an antioxidant vitamin. Antioxidants have been found to lower risks for heart disease and some forms of cancer. Among substances present in carrots are phytochemicals that are thought to reduce the incidence of cancer. These include coumarins, quercetin, kaempferol, and terpenes.

In laboratory tests, when cancer tissue was placed in a vitamin-E-rich blood serum, the cancer tissue did not grow. When a blood serum lacking vitamin E as used in a similar test, the cancer cells divide normally in the presence of vitamin E. When this vitamin is lacking, healthy cell division does not occur and cancer cells are permitted to grow. Other tests brought out the fact that where experimental animals were fed food rich in vitamin E they resisted cancer, whereas those fed foods lacking this vitamin developed a cancerous condition.

Doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say the best thing you can do to lower your risk for lung cancer is to not smoke. Then if you eat your fruits and vegetables, you can lower your risk even more. Because the ingredients of Carrots lower your blood sugars they can be used to good advantage in the prevention of cancer, diabetes, dyspepsia and gout, even heart disease.

The root is prepared in various ways for use on tumours, cancerous ulcers, cancerous wounds, tumours of the testicles, mammary carcinoma and skin ulcers. The juice of the root is applied to carcinomous ulcers of the neck and uterus, cancer of the bowels and stomach cancer. Scraped roots are used to stimulate indolent ulcers.

Cancer-fearers may be reinforced by the knowledge that carrots are relatively high in fibre, retinoid like substances, and the seeds also contain the rather ubiquitous twin carrot ß-sitosterol. This, alone and in combination with similar plant sterols, reduces blood levels of cholesterol. This appears to be because beta-sitosterol blocks absorption of cholesterol. It has also been effective in reducing symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

While information at this time is incomplete as to the relation of the vitamin E complex to human nutrition and body processes, it is believed that further experiments will bring some dramatic developments. In the meantime, it is safe to assume that, as with all of the other vitamins, vitamin E complex plays an important part in building vital health. It is a wise precaution, therefore, to include plenty of carrots in the daily diet.

Because of its rich vitamin and mineral content, and other valuable nutrients, the daily diet should be fortified with the protective and healthful benefits of carrot juice. It can be taken alone, or combined with other fruit (apple) and vegetables juices or even blended with an avocado. It has antioxidant qualities, Read more about antioxidants here.

Falcarinol and its role in helping fight cancer

A CARROT a day really does help keep cancer away, scientists have revealed.

A compound in the popular root vegetable has been found to reduce the risk of developing the killer disease.
The research may now be expanded to look at the medicinal properties of other vegetables, which could provide a boon to growers. Farmers could be advised how to tailor their production to grow vegetables with beneficial qualities, said Newcastle University lecturer Dr Kirsten Brandt. She said: "For consumers, it may soon no longer be a case of advising them to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day but to eat particular types of these in certain quantities.

"The research could also lead to more tailored advice for growers regarding the methods they should use when growing vegetables."
Her team found the natural pesticide falcarinol decreased the likeli-hood of rats developing cancer by one third. Falcarinol is known to protect carrots from fungal diseases such as liquorice rot, a blight that grows on the roots during storage.

Although experts have recommended that people eat carrots for their anti-cancer properties, it has not been known exactly what component of the vegetable has this effect. The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, could lead to the development of anti-cancer drugs.

British scientists, who worked with teams from the University of Southern Denmark and the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences in 2007, investigated falcarinol after a previous published study suggested it could prevent the development of cancer. They carried out tests on 24 rats with pre-cancerous tumours. The rats were divided into three groups and fed different diets. After 18 weeks, rats who ate the popular orange variety of carrot, along with their ordinary feed, were one third less likely to develop full-scale tumours than rats in the control group.

Similar results were found for rats which consumed falcarinol with their feed - in a quantity equal to that contained in the carrots.
Dr Brandt said: "We already know that carrots are good for us and can reduce the risk of cancer but until now we have not known which element of the vegetable has these special properties. "We now need to take it a step further by finding out how much falcarinol is needed to prevent the development of cancer and if certain types of carrot are better than others."

Dr Brandt, who says she eats "more carrots than most" and grows her own organic varieties, recommends that consumers eat one small carrot every day, together with other vegetables and fruits. Falcarinol is toxic in large amounts but to obtain a lethal dose you would have to eat 882lb (400kg) of carrots at once.

Heart Disease

Red carrots contain lycopene, a pigment also found in tomatoes and watermelon; lycopene helps prevent heart disease. Anthocyanins also help prevent heart disease by slowing blood clotting. Carrots are loaded with a potent antioxidant called beta-carotene, a member of the healing family of carotenoids. Also found in beets, sweet potatoes and other yellow-orange vegetables, beta-carotene provides protection against; heart disease,

Carrots' antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease

Reduce Stroke

Carrot sticks or a chocolate bar? When it comes to preventing a stroke, you may want to go with the carrot sticks even though they won't satisfy your chocolate craving.

According to a new study published in the October 6 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association, squeezing 9 to 10 servings of fruit into your daily diet can reduce the risk of stroke by 31 percent. That finding is based on research conducted by scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass. They looked at 75,596 women ages 34 to 59 over 14 years and 38,683 men ages 40 to 75 over an eight-year period. All study participants were free of heart disease, cancer and diabetes when the study began.

Each fruit or vegetable serving in addition to consuming 9 to 10 servings daily was associated with an additional 6 percent reduction in risk. The lowest risk for stroke was among those who ate high quantities of cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and collard greens. Green, leafy vegetables, citrus fruits and juices were also linked to a lower stroke risk.

Improve your eyesight (ever see a rabbit wearing glasses?) walker >

Can eating carrots really improve your eyesight? Sorry No! They will help to keep your eyes healthy and not deteriorate as quickly. When your mother said "Eat your carrots, they'll help your eyes," she had a point. Eating carrots does provide benefits to your eyes, experts say.
Both vitamin A and beta-carotene are known to lower the risk of eye disease, hence the carrot's association with eyesight. The University of Wisconsin has developed a variety of carrot that contains 3 to 5 times more vitamin A than the average carrot. Named the Beta III, it was bred especially for growing in countries suffering from severe vitamin A deficiency and epidemic blindness.

Carrot do however help you see in the dark - Well - Yes And No! - When you eat carrots, the beta-carotene is transformed into retinol or vitamin A. Carrots are high in Vitamin A, and a deficiency in this nutrient can cause some difficulty seeing in dim light. Vitamin A is essential for the formation of the chemical retinal, whose presence in the retina is necessary for vision. Our eyes have two kinds of light sensitive cells: the rods and the cones. The rods are the cells we rely on to see in dim light. They are sensitive to Vitamin A deficiency, because it can cause a shortage of retinal.

The retina is the light-sensing part of the eye that holds the rods and cones, which contain enzymes that absorb light and allow us to see. When light strikes the retinal molecule, it changes its shape. This activates a cascade of chemical reactions that informs the brain that light has entered the eye. When the levels of light sensitive molecules are low, due to Vitamin A deficiency, there will not be enough retinal to detect the light at night. During the day there is enough light to produce vision, despite low levels of retinal. So it's only night vision that can be improved by eating carrots.

The rods provide black and white vision and respond in dim light while the cones provide colour vision and respond to bright light. Vitamin A helps the retina tell black from white and provides for colour vision. It also helps us see in dim light or at night. When you go into a darkened theatre after being out in the bright light, your eyes are able to adapt because of the vitamin A that you have stored in your body.

So really the answer is they do help you see in the dark, but can only improve your night vision if you are deficient in Vitamin A. Here is an experiment which proved it. (Opens in new window).

How did the myth come about?

It seems that in World War II, Britain's air ministry spread the word that a diet of carrots (already known to be a good source of Vitamin A, essential for healthy eyesight) helped pilots see Nazi bombers attacking at night. That was a propaganda story originating from Britain's Ministry of Food, intended to cover the real reason for the Royal Air Force's successes: Airborne Interception Radar, also known as AI. The secret new system pinpointed enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel. Apparently the motive of Lord Woolton (the Minister for Food) was twofold: it also encouraged folks to eat more vegetables (that could be grown in your own backyard) during ration time, when meat and imports were scarce.

Read more here.

It's possible that even very serious eye conditions might have a connection to carrots and other things you eat, though it remains difficult to truly determine if this kind of association is valid. If proven, it could then be a factor, for example, in the case of macular degeneration, an age-related eye disease and the leading cause of blindness in older people.(the Macula is a part of the retina at the back of the eye)The macula of the eye contains two carotenoids similar to vitamin A (lutein and zeaxanthin) which are obtained from sweetcorn, carrots and other yellow-orange fruit and veg as well as dark green leafy vegetables.
Poor dietary intake of carotenoids is thought to be the main cause of this condition and those who eat the most carotenoids have at least a 60 per cent lower risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) of the eye than those with low intake. For more information, contact the Macular Disease Society.
Click here to find out more - The Macular Disease Society Web Site.

Carrots can also help in fighting conjunctivitis/blepharitis, Retinopathy and Cataracts.
Read more about the essential qualities of Vitamin A.

Vitamin A derived from carrots helps to form the inner lining of the eye. Dietary carotenoids from sources like carrots and spinach along with a consistent long-term use of Vitamin C were shown to reduce the risk of developing cataracts severe enough to warrant surgery. Researchers at the University of Helsinki found that supplementation of 20 mg. of betacarotene daily improved the visual acuity of 1,200 males and significantly reduced cataract formation.

Stomach Ailments

Carrots, especially carrot juice, are a sure-fire ticket to better stomach and gastrointestinal health. The ancient Greeks even knew this-they used carrot juice to cure stomach disorders of all kinds. In fact, the word "carrot" is related to the word karoten, the ancient Greek word for carrots. Carrots improve a variety of digestive problems, such as:

Upset stomach.
Peptic ulcers.
Gastritis.
Crohn's disease. (chronic inflammatory disease affecting the whole of the alimentary tract)
Diarrhea. Celiac disease (defective digestion found in children).

Digestive Disorders

Chewing of carrots increases saliva and quickens digestion by supplying the necessary enzymes, minerals and vitamins. Regular use of carrot prevents the formation of gastric ulcer and other digestive disorders. Carrot juice is an effective food remedy in ailments like intestinal colic, colitis, appendicitis, peptic ulcer and dyspepsia.

Constipation

Carrot juice, combined with spinach j nice and a little lemon juice, is very effective in the treatment of constipation. Spinach juice cleanses the bowels. This effect cannot be expected soon after taking the juice. But within two months, the bowel starts emptying regularly. About 50 mi. of spinach juice should be added to 250 mi. of carrot juice to make this combination.

Diarrhoea

The carrot soup has been found an effective natural remedy for diarrhoea. It supplies fluid to combat dehydration, replenishes sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur and magnesium. It is a good source of pectin and coats the intestines to allay inflammation. It checks the growth of harmful bacteria and prevents vomiting. It is especially useful for children. 1/2 Kg. of carrot may be cooked in 150 mi. of water until it is soft. The pulp should be strained. Three-quarter tablespoon of salt may be added and a small amount of the soup should be given to the patient every half an hour. Improvement is usually noticeable in 24 hours.
Thread Worms

The carrots are valuable in the elimination of thread worms from children as it is offensive to all parasites. A small cupful of grated carrot taken every morning, with no other food added to the meal, can clear these worms quickly.
Raw carrots are good for fertility. Sterility is sometimes overcome by its use. The cause of sterility has been traced to the continuous use of food in which enzymes are destroyed by cooking or pasteurizing.

Diabetes

The diet for people with diabetes is a balanced healthy diet, the same kind that is recommended for the rest of the population - low in fat, sugar and salt, with plenty of fruit and vegetables and meals including some starchy foods, such as bread, potatoes, cereals, pasta and rice.

There has been conflicting evidence as the whether people with diabetes should eat carrots and confusing advice about how much sugar there is in carrots and what their true glycemic number is, and therefore some advisors err on the side of caution and do not recommend you eat them.

The current thinking is that carrots are now an "ok" food for diabetics (medium effect on blood sugar levels), so the advice from the World Carrot Museum is that carrots are fine in moderation and you should, as always, consult your health practitioner or dietician should there be any concerns and before contemplating a change in diet.

Avoiding carrots because of their Glycemic Index ranking would be a big mistake, particularly given all the vitamins and minerals they contain and the low Glycemic Load of each serving. As seen elsewhere in this site, carrots are highly nutritous and can provide significant health benefits for several organs of the body.

When you eat a food, your blood sugar level rises. The food that raises blood sugar the highest is pure table sugar. So glycemic index is a ratio of how high that food raises blood sugar in comparison to how high table sugar raises blood sugar levels. Foods whose carbohydrates break down slowly release glucose into the bloodstream slowly, so blood sugar levels do not rise high and therefore these foods have low glycemic index scores. Those that break down quickly cause a high rise in blood sugar and have a high glycemic index.

Most beans, whole grains and non-starchy vegetables have low glycemic index; while sugars, refined grains made from flour, fruits and root vegetables have a high glycemic index.

If you look at tables of glycemic index, you will see things that should bother an intelligent person. A carrot has almost the same glycemic index as sugar does. That is ridiculous. You know that a carrot is far safer for diabetics than table sugar. So scientists developed a new measure to rank foods called glycemic load. It tells you how much sugar is in the food, rather than just how high it raises blood sugar levels. To calculate glycemic load, you multiply the grams of carbohydrate in a serving of food by that food's glycemic index.

Carrots and potatoes both have a high glycemic index, but using the new glycemic load (GL), carrots dropped from high GI of 131 to a GL of 10. Potatoes fall from a GI of 121 to a GL of 45. Air-popped popcorn, with a glycemic index of 79, has a GL of 4.

The advice of the Carrot Museum is like everything in life, take them in moderation.

Did you know? - One pound of carrots gives a normal man enough energy to raise 64 tons 1 foot in the air? That same pound can produce 1 ounce and 11 grains of sugar. A pound also contains 14 ounces of water.

(From:Food collection Bethnal Green Museum – Dr Lankester)

The bottom line: Disease protection comes from getting the entire family of carotenes by eating a variety of fruit and vegetables. Researchers also theorise that the carotenes may team up with each other, and other compounds in foods, making beta carotene supplements of questionable benefit.

In summary, alpha carotene and beta carotene, like all nutrients found in vegetables and fruit, have health benefits. Indeed, the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released by the U.S. government, states that "The antioxidant nutrients found in plant foods (vitamin C, carotene, vitamin E, and the mineral selenium) are presently of great interest to scientists and the public because of their potentially beneficial role in reducing the risk of cancer and certain other chronic diseases."

Taiwanese researchers have found that certain stir-fried vegetables such as carrots, can absorb high quantities of fat. Dr. Peter Hoagland with the USDA Center in Philadelphia found that simply eating two medium sized carrots daily could reduce cholesterol levels by 10-20%. Carrots also contain a small amount of lecithin which is helpful in lowering cholesterol levels. Not only does the carrot physically resemble ginseng, but scientific and clinical studies have demonstrated that carrots provide many of the same protective and therapeutic benefits of ginseng, but at a fraction of the cost. An oxysterol in carrots inhibits the proliferation of fungus.

Ten reasons why you should eat more vegetables. Click here.