| "Oh, carrots are divine, you get a dozen for a dime, | | | | could expect a 20-30 mg/dl drop in your total |
| it's magic." Tens of millions of American children | | | | cholesterol in a month. |
| growing up in the 1950s and 1960s heard Bugs Bunny | | | | Who needs to eat carrots? Researchers find that |
| croon this ditty every Saturday morning. Although | | | | men over forty-five, smokers, people more than 20 |
| inflation has pushed the price of carrots from a dime | | | | percent overweight, and people with low cholesterol |
| a dozen to more than a dollar, carrots remain almost | | | | have the lowest bloodstream concentrations of the |
| universally available, inexpensive, and packed with | | | | alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene |
| nutrition. For you to unlock the nutritional of the | | | | provided by carrots. |
| carrot, however, you may have to adopt some new | | | | Carrots are also an important source of vitamin A for |
| methods, or revisit some not so new methods, of | | | | children. A child's body builds its stores of carotenoids |
| preparation. | | | | and vitamin A from brighter-colored rather than |
| In explaining the value of carrots to human health, | | | | lighter-colored vegetables, so it is important to |
| nutritionists focus on the carrot phytochemicals aptly | | | | provide your child with a bright yellow, orange, or red |
| termed carotenoids. These plant chemicals are known | | | | vegetable at least every other day. At least one |
| from clinical trials to slow the oxidation of LDL | | | | clinical study, conducted in China, found that children |
| cholesterol into the form that lodges in the arterial | | | | who eat bright-colored vegetables (such as carrots |
| wall. They help healthy arteries stay healthy. The | | | | and tomatoes) every day tend to grow faster and |
| unexpected result of clinical study, however, has | | | | taller than children who eat light-colored vegetables |
| been that carotenoids from tomato juice stop the | | | | (such as cucumbers and Napa cabbage) for their |
| oxidation of LDL cholesterol, but carotenoids from | | | | carotenoid source. |
| carrot juice do not. | | | | If your child balks when you offer cooked carrots, |
| Since carrots certainly contain large concentrations of | | | | there are many alternatives for providing necessary |
| carotenoids, why doesn't carrot juice provide them? | | | | carotenoids. Children who do not have intestinal |
| The answer seems to be that the useful antioxidants | | | | parasites can obtain adequate carotenoids by eating |
| of carrots are tightly bound in tough, protein-encased | | | | at least one serving every day from the following |
| sacs that have to be broken by both heat and | | | | group: spinach, Chinese chive, broccoli, sweet potato, |
| mechanical action before the carotenoids are | | | | cabbage, Chinese cabbage, yellow-fleshed varieties of |
| released. Cooking the carrot and then turning it into a | | | | Irish potato, turnip, cucumber, tomato, and, yes, |
| purée increases the available carotenoids by a | | | | ketchup and pickles do count. If your adult balks |
| factor of approximately 600 percent. | | | | when offer cooked carrots, try some healthy carrot |
| Eating the carrots with foods that provide at least a | | | | recipes. |
| little fat-3 grams (less than 30 calories) is | | | | And sometimes changing colors of your carrots helps. |
| enough-increases the body's absorption of | | | | Carrots aren't just orange anymore. Actually, the |
| carotenoids from carrots by 1,000 percent. Carrots | | | | cultivars of carrots grown in ancient times were |
| you boil and mash at home at not as carotene-rich as | | | | purple, white, black, or yellow, the once-novel orange |
| commercial carrot purees, although nutritional | | | | carrot only becoming popular when it was promoted |
| scientists note there is considerable variation among | | | | by the House of Orange in the sixteenth century in |
| commercial products. Still, the weight of the evidence | | | | Holland. The purple, or more properly, maroon, carrot |
| is for the idea that if you want beta-carotene from | | | | was reintroduced by Dr. Leonard Pike of Texas |
| your carrots, cook them first. | | | | A&M University in the 1990s, and carrots of all |
| Carotenoids are not the only nutritional components | | | | colors are once again to be found in markets, with a |
| of carrots. Like many other root vegetables, carrots | | | | "rainbow" carrot that's now commercially available. |
| are an excellent source of fiber. The fiber in carrots | | | | Purple or maroon carrots have the anthocyanins |
| blocks cholesterol absorption from food and lowers | | | | found in blueberries in addition to alpha- and |
| total cholesterol in the bloodstream. If you were | | | | beta-carotene, and white, yellow, and black carrots |
| inclined to eat half a pound of shredded carrots a | | | | offer interesting color as well as subtle differences in |
| day for a month (eating more than this amount might | | | | flavor for soups and salads. |
| cause bronzing or an orange tint to your skin), you | | | | |