Carrots - one of the best and most accessible sources of provitamin A

Vitamin A is one of the key antioxidant biologically active substances that reduce damage from free radicals which damage cells.

It also affects the proper functioning of the visual and immune system, growth of cells, reproduction of both genders.

The main dietary sources of vitamin A are of animal origin - liver, fish, egg yolk, etc.

The human body can synthesise vitamin A from sources of provitamin A, coming from food. This enables us to enrich the sources also in food of plant origin that are often more affordable, method and time of cooking, variety, taste.

The main predecessor /provitamin A contained in foods of plant origin is beta carotene.

Carrots, raw or cooked are probably the most affordable and the best source of beta carotene. Widespread, easy to grow, in most countries at an affordable price, carrots can be eaten raw or cooked, as a side dish or salad in the form of juice and in many other ways. It does not take much time to cook them; they are also suitable for people who have chosen the vegetarian or vegan diet.

Freshly squeezed carrot juice retains and even has a high content of beta carotene than raw carrots. The shortcoming in this case is that more frequently we lose valuable fiber contained in raw carrots. Blood sugar control increases faster after the intake of carrot juice compared to intake of vegetable. We must consider these facts when choosing a mode of consumption.

In fact, the intake of a carrot is enough to provide us the recommended minimum daily intake of Vitamin A for about 3/4 days.

100 g / 3.53 oz / raw carrots contain about 16,700 IU of vitamin A, while the minimum recommended daily dose for an adult is 3,000 IU.

They are very suitable when trying to make a complete low-calorie menu. At 100g /3.53oz/ our energy intake would be only about 41 kilocalories.

They contain also: vitamin C /key antioxidant/, fiber, potassium and smaller amounts of almost all important micronutrients.

We could pay attention to the combination of carrots and fats of vegetable origin, olive oil, sunflower oil, etc. A salad of shredded carrots with olive oil to taste, would greatly enrich the vitamin profile of food intake, and would facilitate the process of converting beta-carotene into vitamin A.

Contained in most vegetable fats natural vitamin E in combination of vitamin A, synthesized in our body from the beta carotene, contained in carrots, is powerful incentive for our immune system and the entire organism.

Obtaining important to our health biologically active substances from food and not as isolated or artificially synthesized supplements is one of the best and proven ways to take care of our health and condition.

Carrots are a wonderful example of how this could be done easily, without much effort and at minimal price.