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Eat More Carotenoids
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Carotenoids are a group of more than 700 fat soluble plant pigments
that produce the deep green, yellow, orange, and red colors in plants and algae.
Most carotenoids are strong antioxidants. Carotenoids have many physiological functions,
the biochemistry is well understood and there is much more to learn.
According to research, carotenoids play an important role in protecting against a whole host of degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease, degenerative eye disease and helping to balance the immune system.
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Carotenoids are required for photosynthesis in plants and algae, and to protect chlorophyll from sun damage.
Carotenoids are found in petals, roots, and fruits, giving them their colours. They are the fall colours of leaves because the yellow, orange, and red carotenoids last longer than the green chlorophyll.
All life that uses the sun for energy uses carotenoids.
Carotenoids absorb energy from light and transfers it to chlorophyll for photosynthesis.
Carotenoids can be found in papayas, carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, kale, peppers, collard greens, romaine lettuce, squash, beet greens, leeks, yellow peppers, pumpkins, tangerines, persimmons, and yellow egg yolks.
Of all the carotenoids that have been identified, only forty or so are in the human diet.
For the best assimilation juice or cook the vegetables. Spinach and carrot juice is tasty, it is even better if you add apple juice for sweetness.
Lightly steaming spinach and carrot can improve the body’s ability to absorb
the carotenoids.
Carotenoid deficiency is not considered a nutritional deficiency like scurvy from vitamin C deficiencie.
The most common carotenoids in our diets are alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, lycopene, and zeaxanthin.
All carotenoids are tetraterpenoids, meaning they have 40 carbon atoms.
21 different carotenoids have been found in human blood
Carotenoids are nearly insoluble in water and are best absorbed when associated with lipids.
Most foods that are rich in carotenoids are low in lipids.
Lipids are fat-soluble molecules, such as fats, oils, waxes, cholesterol, fat-soluble vitamins, and others. Lipids are important for energy storage, structural components of cell membranes, and as signaling molecules.
Lipids seem to be an important factor for making carotenoids availabile to your body.
It helps if you eat your carotenoids with fat like avocado or olive oil.
By Harvey Robinson
Webmaster of
Years to Your Health
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Bluebonnet Mixed Carotene
With alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, lutein and lycopene. Easy-to-swallow softgels.
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Studies
Carotenoid absorption from salad and salsa by humans is enhanced by the addition of avocado or avocado oil.
A study in 2005 investigated whether addition of avocado fruit or oil, as lipid sources, would enhance carotenoid absorption in humans. The study found that the addition of both avocado fruit and oil significantly enhanced the subjects' absorption of all carotenoids tested.
Department of Food Science and Technology, The Ohio State University.
Two studies show beta-carotene, when taken in pill form, increased the risk of lung cancer in smokers.
The Alpha Tocopherol, Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study
by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Public Health Institute of Finland from 1985 to 1993. The purpose of the study was to determine whether certain alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) and or beta-carotene would prevent lung cancer and other cancers in a group of 29,133 male smokers in Finland. The participants took a pill every day for five to eight years that contained 50 milligrams vitamin E, 20 mg of beta-carotene, both, or a placebo.
The participants taking the beta-carotene had 18 percent more lung cancer.
The New England Journal of Medicine, (Vol. 330, No. 15)
The Beta Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial was done in the United States and published in 1996 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (Vol. 88, No. 21). This study looked at
the effect of daily beta-carotene (30 mg) and retinyl palmitate (25,000 IU) on the incidence of lung cancer, other cancers, and death in 18,314 participants who were at high risk for lung cancer because of a history of smoking or asbestos exposure.
The study had to be stopped because participants were found to have a 28% increase in lung cancer, a 17% increase in death and a higher rate of cardiovascular disease mortality compared with in the placebo group.
Not only do beta-carotene supplements not prevent lung cancer in people at high risk for the disease, they appear to increase rates of the disease, particularly among smokers.
Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin A and Carotenoids
Office of Dietary Supplements • National Institutes of Health
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamina.asp
Warning Labels on Beta-Carotene Called For
British Cancer Organization Calls for Warning Labels on Beta-Carotene
Bluebonnet Supplements
at
Years to Your Health
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