Lycopene

TUESDAY, April 4, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- If you think of carrots as stodgy old tubers, something more fit for rabbits than healthy humans, you're in for a bunch of surprises. Carrots can be a significant source of crucial nutrients, said Sherry Tanumihardjo, professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These days, they're popping up in a whole palette of colors. They're also convenient and versatile. "You can just take them out of the ground, wash them and eat them, just like that, or you can peel them and cut them up," she said. "You can slice them and dice them into all kinds of foods." Carrots have been around a long time, probably originating in central Asia, possibly Afghanistan. Researchers say that by the Middle Ages, purple and white varieties were domesticated as far west as England, but the orange carrot didn't become common until the 15th century in Europe. Tanumihardjo has quite a carrot history herself, having studied them since the start of this century and collaborated on work that's helped make a rainbow of varieties widely available. Although carrots carry a range of nutrients, including B vitamins, vitamin K and potassium, much of her carrot enthusiasm comes from her work in vitamin A, which supports the immune system, heart, lungs and perhaps most famously, eye health. "Vitamin A is essential for vision, especially at night," she said, meaning that what your grandmother told you about eating carrots to help you see in the dark has some truth to it. (The idea that carrots can improve eyesight is rooted in British World War II propaganda, but vitamin A deficiency causes hundreds of thousands of cases of night blindness worldwide each year.) Vitamin A comes in two forms. Preformed vitamin A can be found in animal products, such as dairy products and organ meats. Taken in excess, as in supplements, preformed vitamin A can become toxic. The other form, provitamin A, is derived from plant-based chemicals called, conveniently enough, carotenoids. Not all carotenoids can be converted to vitamin A, but orange carrots are full of some that do, such as alpha and beta carotene. "It's a safer way to get vitamin A because your body regulates it," Tanumihardjo said. That is, your body can make more or less, depending on what it needs at the moment. As calculated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one regular raw carrot, weighing about 2 ounces (or 60 grams), comes with about 25 calories and would provide nearly 72% of the vitamin A an adult woman's needs, and about 56% of an adult man's daily needs. In the carrot world, colors are trending, and as colors vary, so do nutrients. Purple carrots get their hue from anthocyanins, which have been linked to healthy gut biomes, improved cognition and better heart health. Yellow carrots provide lutein, which helps vision and brain health. And red carrots contain lycopene, which also is found in red tomatoes and watermelon, and which has been linked to lower stroke risk. More varieties may be on the way, Tanumihardjo said. "Right now, we are working on a purple carrot with a red center." Carrots also have heart-healthy fiber. According to the USDA, one regular raw carrot provides 1.7 grams. Federal dietary guidelines say an adult needs 22 to 34 grams a day, depending on age and sex. Tanumihardjo said the nutrients in carrots are available fresh or frozen, raw or cooked. Cooking, she said, breaks down the cell walls releasing compounds that help sweeten carrots a bit. Some studies have shown that cooking actually increases levels of available carotenoids. She did have one carrot caveat, however: If you eat raw carrots without a fat source, you won't see benefits from those carotenoids. "It will just pass right on through the body," she said. "If you eat carrots in a salad and you have salad dressing, then you will absorb more. If you eat carrots in a stew, and you don't overcook them too much, and there's fat in the stew, you will absorb even more." Eating them with a little bit of cheese also would work, she said. The same goes for carrot juice. Juicing breaks cell membranes and helps make carotenoids more accessible, "but you do have to make sure you have a little bit of fat within the same time you're drinking the juice in order to absorb the most nutrients." Although peeling them will remove a little fiber, when it comes to serving carrots, there really isn't a bad way, she said. (Unless, perhaps, you are a rabbit. According to Britain's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, wild rabbits don't eat carrots, and they should only be an occasional treat for pets. The whole connection between bunnies and carrots can be traced to the debut of Bugs Bunny in 1940. His carrot crunching was intended as a parody of Clark Gable in the 1934 comedy, "It Happened One Night.") "I do like carrots," Tanumihardjo said. Sometimes she snacks on baby carrots, a peeled and cut version with similar nutritional values. Mostly, she said, she buys longer ones and puts them in soup. "I make a lot of soup." American Heart Association News covers heart and brain health. Not all views expressed in this story reflect the official position of the American Heart Association. Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved. By Michael Merschel, American Heart Association News Posted April 2023

If your diet has been lacking some color, now is a good time to change that. New research suggests men who consume colorful fruits and veggies frequently stand a better chance of preventing prostate cancer. Scientists at the University of South Australia found that a “rainbow” of foods rich in certain micronutrients not only assists in the prevention of cancer but also helps quicken recovery among men with prostate cancer undergoing radiation treatment. Researchers enrolled a total of 116 male patients with prostate cancer and 132 healthy men who were free from cancer at the time of this study. They measured plasma concentrations of several micronutrients in those who were healthy and in those who had prostate cancer and compared both results. (function(v,d,o,ai){ai=d.createElement("script");ai.defer=true;ai.async=true;ai.src=v.location.protocol+o;d.head.appendChild(ai);})(window, document, "//a.vdo.ai/core/v-druggenius/vdo.ai.js"); window.vdo_ai_ = window.vdo_ai_ || {}; window.vdo_ai_.dimensions = window.vdo_ai_.dimensions || []; vdo_ai_.dimensions.push( [ "v-druggenius", "dim1", "/news/could-the-mediterranean-diet-help-prevent-prostate-cancer-in-men/" ] ); vdo_ai_.dimensions.push( [ "v-druggenius", "dim2", "439155" ] ); vdo_ai_.dimensions.push( [ "v-druggenius", "dim3", "" ] ); vdo_ai_.dimensions.push( [ "v-druggenius", "dim4", "organic" ] ); In the end, the results , which were published in the journal Cancers , revealed that levels of lycopene, alpha-carotene, lutein, and selenium were significantly lower in those living with prostate cancer compared with healthy individuals. They also had higher concentrations of iron , sulfur, and calcium than the controls. Moving forward, the team observed that the increased DNA damage following radiation exposure was also linked to low levels of lycopene and selenium in the blood. The risk of prostate cancer tripled for men if their plasma levels of selenium fell below 120 ug/L and their levels of lycopene fell below 0.25 micrograms per liter. They were also more likely to be extra sensitive to the harmful effects associated with radiation. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men, and until now, the nutritional deficiencies associated with the disease remain unknown. This, therefore, led the study authors to conduct the experiment. For diets rich in lycopene, some examples include tomatoes, melons, pawpaw, watermelons, peaches, cranberries, and grapes. For selenium, they include white meat, eggs, nuts, shellfish, and fish. “Our recommendation is to adopt a Mediterranean diet enlisting the help of a dietician because people absorb nutrients in different ways, depending on the food, the digestive system, the person’s genotype, and possibly their microbiome,” said Dr. Permal Deo who is the lead author of the study. The study authors note that consuming foods high in lycopene and selenium is far better than taking supplements due to the limited benefits. Prior studies have found evidence suggesting that a person who is overweight and tall has a higher chance of developing prostate cancer. Another study also found diets high in dairy products and low in vitamin E could elevate the risk as well, although the evidence is still less clear, according to the team. It’s worth noting that other popular risk factors that are also tied to prostate cancer are family history, age, and ethnicity.