CARROTS
Like other orange and yellow vegetables high in beta-carotene, carrots have been associated with lower rates of heart disease, cancer, and other disorders. In Oriental medicine, they are especially good for the lungs and large intestine and their sweet taste nourishes the pancreas. See Carotenoids, Vegetables.
• Carrots Associated with Lower Cervical Cancer - An Italian case-control study found that 191 women with invasive cervical cancer consumed less carrots and green vegetables than healthy women. Both foods were highly protective, with almost a fivefold increased risk associated with eating carrots less often than once a week or green vegetables less often than once a day.
Source: C. La Vecchia et al., “Dietary Vitamin A and the Risk of Invasive Cervical Cancer,” International Journal of Cancer 34:319-22, 1984.
• Carrots Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer - Carrots may help protect against breast cancer. Scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reported that eating carrots more than twice weekly, compared with no intake, was associated with 44 percent less breast cancer in a case-control study of 13,000 women conducted in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, in a study of the effect of 26 types or groups of vegetables and fruit on cancer development, Italian researchers reported that most vegetables protected against cancer of the colon and rectum, but only carrots lowered breast cancer risk.
Sources:: M. P. Longnecker, “Intake of Carrots, Spinach, and Supplements Containing Vitamin A in Relation to Risk of Breast Cancer,” Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 6(11):887-92, 1997; S. Franceschi et al., “Role of Different Types of Vegetables and Fruit in the Prevention of Cancer of the Colon, Rectum, and Breast,” Epidemiology 9(3):338-41, 1998.
• Carrots Protect Against Vulvar Cancer - Italian researchers reported that in a study of 125 women with invasive vulvar cancer and 541 controls in the Milan area, women who ate high amounts of carrots had about half the risk of contacting the disease.
Source: F. Parazzini et al., “Selected Food Intake and Risk of Vulvar Cancer,” Cancer 76(11):2291-96, 1995.
• Carrots Protect Against Lung Cancer - In a case-control study involving over 300 women in Spain, scientists found that intake of yellow/orange vegetables, principally carrots, reduced the risk of lung cancer by almost two-thirds.
Source: A. Agudo et al., “Vegetable and Fruit Intake and the Risk of Lung Cancer in Women in Barcelona, Spain,” European Journal of Cancer 33(8):1256-61, 1997.
• Carrots Improve Liver Function - In laboratory studies, scientists in India reported that carrot extracts reduced acute liver damage in mice.
Source: A. Bishayee et al., “Hepatoprotective Activity of Carrot Against Carbon Tetrachloride Intoxification in Mouse Liver,” Journal of Ethnopharmacology 47(2):69-74, 1995.