Carrots
Carrots are nutritional heroes, they store a gold mine of nutrients. No other vegetable or fruit contains as much carotene as carrots, which the body converts to vitamin A.
This is a truly versatile vegetable and an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fiber that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties. The carrot is an herbaceous plant containing about 87 percent water, rich in mineral salts and vitamins B, C, D, and E. Raw carrots are also an excellent source of vitamin A and potassium; they contain vitamin B6, thiamin, folic acid, and magnesium.
Cooked carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, a good source of potassium, and contain vitamin B6, copper, folic acid, and magnesium. The high level of beta-carotene is very important and gives carrots their distinctive orange color.
Carrots also contain, in smaller amounts, essential oils, carbohydrates and nitrogenous composites. They are well-known for their sweetening, anti anaemic, healing, diuretic, remineralizing and sedative properties.
In order to assimilate the greatest quantity of the nutrients present in carrots, it is important to chew them well -- they are the exception to the rule -- they are more nutritious cooked than raw (except when juiced). Cooking partially dissolves cellulose-thickened cell walls, freeing up nutrients by breaking down the cell membranes.
Carrots are one of the best sources of carotene which is a strong antioxidant. But carrots also contain other phenolic compounds that are antioxidants. Many people do not realize that numerous phenolic compounds are located in the skin of fruit and vegetables, many of which are removed by peeling prior to processing.
