Carrots - Nutrition Superstar
Carrots - nutrition in a bright red package. Of all the vegetables we eat, carrots are certainly among the most nutritious. We often think of this valuable vegetable as being primarily good for the eyes, but carrots are good for us in many other ways as well. The title of this article, "Carrots-Nutrition Superstar" is not an exaggeration.
Vitamin A - There is little doubt that eating carrots is good for the eyes. One of the reasons being that carrots are very rich in Vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential to good eyesight. Those who have a deficiency in Vitamin A are very likely to suffer from poor night vision. While taking vitamin pills or supplements can alleviate vision problems, it makes more sense to eat an occasional carrot. Carrots taste better than pills, plus it would take a number of different pills, and not just a multiple vitamin pill, to give the same benefits a single carrot can provide. With carrots, nutrition is as good as it gets. Vitamin A is also good for our skin, in fact essential for a healthy skin. Pregnant women, and those who are nursing, require extra Vitamin A. A glass of carrot juice a day will fulfill that extra requirement. Smokers will also benefit from carrot juice, in that smoking is a leading cause of Vitamin A deficiency, and as such is hard on the skin and other organs as well. That doesn't mean of that drinking carrot juice will make smoking OK. A better course of action would be to eat more carrots and stop smoking.
One major advantage that carrots has, is of all of the vegetables in the garden, it is one of those which tastes better fresh than cooked, and we all know what happens to vitamins and other nutrients when we cook, or overcook, a vegetable. Unless you drink the water the vegetable is cooked in, a good percentage of the nutrients will go down the drain.
The Other Vitamins - Vitamin A is not the only important element of carrots nutrition, though it may be the most important. The carrot is also an excellent source of Vitamin C and Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin. During the winter months we tend to get much of our Vitamin D supply from fortified milk and cereals. There is nothing wrong with that, but not everyone drinks milk, and not everyone eats fortified cereals. Carrots come to the rescue here. As far as Vitamin C is concerned, a cup of carrots provides about a fifth or our daily requirement. And then there are those B vitamins, several of them in fact. Carrots are not rich in all B vitamins but contain most of them. In fact, a serving (cup) of carrots will provide a tenth of our daily requirement of thiamine, Vitamin B3 and Vitamin B6.
Fiber And Other Elements - What else is in carrot? Fiber is one element essential to our well-being, and the carrot is as rich in fiber as any vegetable you can name. Where vitamins play an important role in the health of our eyes, skin, and immune system, fiber is one of the elements needed to keep our digestive system in good working order.
Finally, there are the minerals and trace elements. We don't always need large amounts of some of these, but the tiny amounts we do need, we need badly. Carrots are rich in iron, magnesium, and potassium, three minerals we simply must have to function normally. There are also a number of trace elements, such as selenium, copper, and zinc. We don't need too great an amount of these, but if there is any deficiency, we could find ourselves in bad shape indeed. The Carrot takes care of that issue for us as well.
Carrots-Nutrition Superstar? You'd better believe it.