Carotene Glow – Organic Carrot & Lemon Juice 3 L

Scientifically Supported Health Benefits of Carrot

1. Vitamin A and normal vision

Carrot is among the richest common dietary sources of provitamin A carotenoids: around 8.3 mg of β-carotene and 3.5 mg of α-carotene per 100 g of fresh root, and 14–15 mg of β-carotene per 100 mL in pressed juice from orange cultivars. [1] [2] The body converts these to retinol — at roughly 14.8 to 1 by weight from carrot, measured directly by feeding volunteers vegetables grown with an isotopic label, which is markedly less efficient than the 6 to 1 long assumed. [3] In the European Union vitamin A carries an authorised health claim: vitamin A contributes to the maintenance of normal vision. [4] The claim may be used for a beverage containing at least 60 µg of vitamin A per 100 mL. [5]

2. Vitamin A, skin, mucous membranes and immune function

The same authorisation covers three further functions: vitamin A contributes to the maintenance of normal skin, to the maintenance of normal mucous membranes, and to the normal function of the immune system. Vitamin A also contributes to normal iron metabolism and has a role in the process of cell specialisation. [4] All six wordings rest on EFSA opinions published in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and all six carry the same condition of use: the product must be at least a source of vitamin A. [4] [5]

3. Carotenoid uptake is higher from juice than from the whole root

A randomised crossover trial in 16 healthy non-smoking adults aged 20–30 matched the β-carotene dose exactly — 25 mg, taken either as 320 g of raw carrot or as 530 mL of carrot juice, each with 50 mL of oil. Peak plasma β-carotene was 2.33 times higher after the juice and the area under the concentration curve 2.09 times greater, with the difference significant from 30 minutes to 6 hours after the dose. [6] Pressing ruptures the cell walls that otherwise hold carotenoids inside the root matrix.

4. Skin carotenoid status, measured

Carotenoids that are not converted to retinol accumulate in subcutaneous fat, and the effect is visible. In a controlled trial, 81 young adults were given 500 mL on weekdays for six weeks of a preparation built on 250 mL of freshly pressed carrot juice, delivering 25.4 mg of carotenoids a day of which 21.0 mg was β-carotene. Facial skin yellowness rose by 3.26 units and redness by 0.95 units, both p<0.001, and the change was still present at the nine-week follow-up. The control group showed no significant change. [7]

5. DNA damage in a randomised trial in smokers

In an eight-week randomised, placebo-controlled trial, 48 male smokers received carrot juice, purified β-carotene, or placebo. Lymphocyte DNA damage fell significantly in the carrot juice group on all three comet-assay measures: tail moment from 17.7 to 10.0, DNA in tail from 23.9% to 20.5%, tail length from 71.0 to 52.3 µm, all p<0.001. The placebo group moved significantly on only one of the three. [8] The groups were small — 14 to 18 people each — and this is a single study.

6. Potassium

Potassium is the most abundant mineral in carrot: 320 mg per 100 g of fresh root, and 292 mg per 100 g in the USDA reference figure for canned carrot juice. [2] Three authorised EU claims apply to it — potassium contributes to normal functioning of the nervous system, to normal muscle function, and to the maintenance of normal blood pressure. [4] As with vitamin A, the claims require the product to be at least a source of potassium, which for a beverage means 150 mg per 100 mL. [5]

7. Carrot intake and coronary heart disease

In the Dutch MORGEN cohort, 20069 adults were followed for a median of 10.5 years, during which 245 cases of coronary heart disease occurred. Of all the fruit and vegetable colour groups examined, only deep orange reached significance — and within it, carrots specifically: hazard ratio 0.68 (95% CI 0.48 to 0.98) for each additional 25 g eaten per day. [9] This is an observational association, not a demonstrated effect.

8. Carrot intake and cancer incidence

A systematic review pooled 50 prospective observational studies covering some 52000 cancer cases. Comparing the highest carrot intakes with the lowest gave a relative risk of 0.90 (95% CI 0.87 to 0.94); across 30 prospective studies measuring plasma α-carotene, the blood marker of carrot intake, the highest levels against the lowest gave 0.80 (95% CI 0.72 to 0.89). Both dose-responses were significant and inter-study heterogeneity was moderate. [10] Again an association: no trial has tested carrot intake against cancer incidence.

Polyacetylenes: the part of carrot chemistry still being worked out

Carrot makes a group of bitter C17 compounds — falcarinol, falcarindiol and falcarindiol-3-acetate — as a chemical defence, and concentrates them in the outer tissue just beneath the skin, at three to five times the level found in the core. They are why the top of a carrot tastes sharper than the tip, and why peeling removes a large share of both the polyacetylenes and the root's phenolics. [11] The authors of the cancer meta-analysis above propose these compounds, rather than the carotenoids, as the more likely explanation for what the cohorts observe. [10] The human evidence does not yet exist: the work so far is in rats and in cell culture, [12] and the first substantial human trial — 400 patients, 100 mL of a high-polyacetylene carrot juice daily for a year after polyp removal — began recruiting in 2024 and will not report before 2027. [13]

β-carotene from a carrot is not β-carotene from a capsule

This distinction matters, and it usually gets left out. Three large trials of isolated, high-dose β-carotene supplements — 20 mg daily in 29133 Finnish male smokers, 30 mg daily with retinyl palmitate in 18314 heavy smokers and asbestos-exposed workers, and 15 mg daily in the AREDS2 eye study — each found more lung cancer in the supplemented group, not less. EFSA's position is that supplemental β-carotene should be limited to meeting vitamin A requirements and that smokers should avoid β-carotene supplements altogether; the panel found no adequate data to set an upper level for β-carotene, and its upper limits for vitamin A apply to preformed retinol rather than to carotenoids from plants. [14] None of those trials used carrot, juice, or any food, and the observational evidence for the vegetable points the other way. We take two things from this: we never describe a carrot juice by its β-carotene dose, and we never add isolated β-carotene to anything.

Orange skin, and why it is harmless

Sustained high carotenoid intake — on the order of more than 30 mg a day over weeks to months — can turn the palms, the soles and the skin beside the nose a yellow-orange. It is called carotenodermia, it is benign, and the clinical giveaway is that it spares the whites of the eyes, which jaundice does not. It reverses on reducing intake, though the colour can lag the blood level by months, because carotenoids are fat-soluble and sit in subcutaneous fat. [15] The arithmetic is worth knowing: at the carotenoid figures above, a 200 mL serving of orange carrot juice delivers roughly 28 mg of β-carotene.

References

1. Purkiewicz A, Ciborska J, Tańska M, Narwojsz A, Starowicz M, Przybyłowicz KE, Sawicki T. The impact of the method extraction and different carrot variety on the carotenoid profile, total phenolic content and antioxidant properties of juices. Plants. 2020;9(12):1759. doi:10.3390/plants9121759
2. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: Carrots, raw (FDC ID 170393); Carrot juice, canned (FDC ID 170491).
3. Tang G, Qin J, Dolnikowski GG, Russell RM, Grusak MA. Spinach or carrots can supply significant amounts of vitamin A as assessed by feeding with intrinsically deuterated vegetables. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005;82(4):821–828. doi:10.1093/ajcn/82.4.821 · PMID 16210712
4. Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 of 16 May 2012 establishing a list of permitted health claims made on foods, Annex — vitamin A entries (EFSA Journal 2009;7(9):1221; 2009;7(9):1222; 2010;8(10):1754; 2011;9(4):2021) and potassium entries (EFSA Journal 2010;8(2):1469).
5. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, Annex XIII; and Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, Annex.
6. Choi M, Baek J, Park E. Comparative bioavailability of β-carotene from raw carrots and fresh carrot juice in humans: a crossover study. Nutr Res Pract. 2025;19(2):215–224. doi:10.4162/nrp.2025.19.2.215
7. Tan KW, Graf BA, Mitra SR, Stephen ID. Daily consumption of a fruit and vegetable smoothie alters facial skin color. PLoS One. 2015;10(7):e0133445. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133445
8. Lee HJ, Park YK, Kang MH. The effect of carrot juice, β-carotene supplementation on lymphocyte DNA damage, erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes and plasma lipid profiles in Korean smoker. Nutr Res Pract. 2011;5(6):540–547. doi:10.4162/nrp.2011.5.6.540
9. Oude Griep LM, Verschuren WMM, Kromhout D, Ocké MC, Geleijnse JM. Colours of fruit and vegetables and 10-year incidence of CHD. Br J Nutr. 2011;106(10):1562–1569. doi:10.1017/S0007114511001942
10. Ojobor CC, O'Brien GM, Siervo M, Ogbonnaya C, Brandt K. Carrot intake is consistently negatively associated with cancer incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2025;65(5). doi:10.1080/10408398.2023.2287176
11. Kjellenberg L, Johansson E, Gustavsson K-E, Granstedt A, Olsson ME. Correlations between polyacetylene concentrations in carrot (Daucus carota L.) and various soil parameters. Foods. 2016;5(3):60. doi:10.3390/foods5030060
12. Kobaek-Larsen M, et al. Effect of the dietary polyacetylenes falcarinol and falcarindiol on the gut microbiota composition in a rat model of colorectal cancer. BMC Res Notes. 2018;11:411. doi:10.1186/s13104-018-3527-y
13. ClinicalTrials.gov. Polyp prophylactic properties of polyacetylenes in patients with previous polypectomy (Px7). NCT06335420. Recruiting; primary completion estimated June 2027.
14. EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS). Statement on the safety of β-carotene use in heavy smokers. EFSA Journal. 2012;10(12):2953. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2953. And: EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens. Overview on tolerable upper intake levels as derived by the EFSA NDA Panel, 2024.
15. Al Nasser Y, Jamal Z, Albugeaey M. Carotenemia. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; updated 2023. NCBI Bookshelf NBK534878.