Carrots are one of my favorite vegetables. They are a great healthy snack to bring with you and can easily be eaten on the go. Some interesting research has been done by the United States Department of Agriculture on the health benefits of genetically altered carrots. The USDA has begun breeding carrots that come in some unusual colors. They have engineered yellow, dark orange, bright red and purple carrots. The pigments that give these carrots their unusual colors have been linked to various health benefits. Xanthophyll is the pigment that gives yellow carrots their color and has been linked with promoting good eye health. Red carrots get their color from lycopene which is a type of carotene that has been linked with preventing heart disease and some cancers. Anthocyanins give purple carrots their color. Anthocyanins are pigments considered to be powerful antioxidents that help rid the body of free radicals. You can read more about these colorful treats here http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/041115.htm Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Colorful Carrots
Carrots are one of my favorite vegetables. They are a great healthy snack to bring with you and can easily be eaten on the go. Some interesting research has been done by the United States Department of Agriculture on the health benefits of genetically altered carrots. The USDA has begun breeding carrots that come in some unusual colors. They have engineered yellow, dark orange, bright red and purple carrots. The pigments that give these carrots their unusual colors have been linked to various health benefits. Xanthophyll is the pigment that gives yellow carrots their color and has been linked with promoting good eye health. Red carrots get their color from lycopene which is a type of carotene that has been linked with preventing heart disease and some cancers. Anthocyanins give purple carrots their color. Anthocyanins are pigments considered to be powerful antioxidents that help rid the body of free radicals. You can read more about these colorful treats here http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/041115.htm 
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I love eating carrots as a snack as well! They are healthy and really tasty I think. Its was very interesting to read that the USDA is altering carrots for other help benefits. That would be really cool if they could get those out to the general public and even better if they actually work. I know I would try the different colors for the different health benefits. Very interesting topic! I have never heard of this being done to carrots before, thanks for sharing what you found.
ReplyDeleteCarrots are definitely one of my favorite snacks. Now a color change for health! What could be better than that. I find it very interesting that the USDA is altering carrots for more health benefits. If I have to eat a yellow or purple carrot for more essentials, than I will. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteCarrots are one of my favorite foods to snack on, but I didn't realize that they come in so many different colors that equate to various healthy benefits. It sounds like the more variety of carrots, the better my health will be. Hopefully this information will be made more mainstream in the near future so people will incorporate this super food into their diets.
ReplyDeleteCarrots are actually my favorite vegetables. I eat them everyday for lunch and dinner. For some reason I just love the y way they taste with ranch or blue cheese dressing. I know they are very healthy for you and can improve things like eye sight. But I had no idea that they could be bread and come in different colors. I think this could actually be an advantage to permoting healthy eating habits to younger children. Who at a young age doesn't want to stick something you can eat in a crazy color in your mouth? I know if they had carrots like this when I was younger I would eat them just to say that I ate a purple or yellow carrot. I liked reading this post it was very informative and pretty cool. Something I had no idea about.
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