Carrots are anti-inflammatory, and the colour is the short version of why. Orange means beta-carotene, an antioxidant that works against the cell damage behind slow, low-level inflammation. Your body also turns part of it into vitamin A, and only as much as it needs.<\/p>\n
A raw carrot hides most of that pigment. It sits locked inside thick cell walls your gut cannot break open, so a good share of it passes straight through you. Heat softens those walls, and beta-carotene needs fat to cross into your blood. So a carrot cooked with a little olive oil gets far more of the pigment into you than the same one eaten raw and dry. That runs against what people expect of a vegetable, where raw is usually the version that counts.<\/p>\n
The pigment is not the whole story either. Carrots also carry a group of bitter-tasting compounds called polyacetylenes, sitting mostly just under the skin, and they act on inflammation in their own right. It is worth knowing, because beta-carotene sold on its own in a pill has not matched what the vegetable does. Scrub your carrots instead of peeling them and you keep more of both.<\/p>\n
Most of what goes wrong with carrots happens after they leave the fridge. Carrot cake is a cake. Glazed carrots are sugar. Juice does get a lot of the pigment through at once, but it leaves the fibre behind and goes down like a sweet drink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why carrots are anti-inflammatory Carrots are anti-inflammatory, and the colour is the short version of why. Orange means beta-carotene, an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5377,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iscan_score":2,"iscan_category":"Vegetables","iscan_serving":"1 cup chopped (128 g)","iscan_nutrients":"Beta-carotene, Alpha-carotene, Falcarinol, Fiber","iscan_how_often":"Most days, cooked with a little oil or grated raw into a salad","iscan_swap":"","iscan_aip_note":"Carrots are allowed on the Autoimmune Protocol from the first day of the elimination phase. A carrot is a root vegetable, so it sits clear of the grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, nightshades and dairy that come out. They also earn their place: with bread, rice and pasta gone, roasted carrots are one of the few sweet things left that still count as a vegetable.","iscan_aip_ok":"yes","iscan_benefits":"Beta-carotene, the orange pigment, is an antioxidant your body also turns into vitamin A\nCooking them with a little oil gets far more of that pigment into you\nThey also carry polyacetylenes, compounds that act on inflammation in their own right\nCheap all year round, and a bag keeps for weeks in the fridge","iscan_concerns":"Eaten raw and dry, a good share of the pigment passes straight through you\nCarrot cake and glazed carrots are mostly sugar with a vegetable in them\nJuice leaves the fibre behind and goes down like a sweet drink\nEating a lot of them for weeks can turn your palms slightly orange","iscan_sources":"Effect of Oral Intake of Carrot Juice on Cyclooxygenases and Cytokines in Healthy Human (Nutrients, 2023)|https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/36771338\/\nEffects of dietary fat type and emulsification on carotenoid absorption (Am J Clin Nutr, 2023)|https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/36921903\/","iscan_faq":"Are carrots inflammatory?|No, carrots are anti-inflammatory, and they score 2 out of 10 on the inflammation scale. The orange pigment, beta-carotene, works against the cell damage behind slow, low-level inflammation.\nAre raw or cooked carrots better?|Cooked, which surprises people. Heat softens the cell walls that keep the pigment locked away, and a little oil in the same meal is what carries it into your blood. Raw carrots are still a good snack, they just hand you less.\nShould you peel carrots?|Scrub them instead. The skin and the layer right under it hold the bitter-tasting compounds that do part of the work, and peeling takes both off.\nCan you eat carrots on the AIP diet?|Yes, in every phase including elimination. A carrot is a root vegetable, not a grain, legume, nut, seed, nightshade or dairy.","iscan_title_pattern":"anti","iscan_title_verb":"are","iscan_title_noun":""},"ingredient":[168],"class_list":["post-5378","food","type-food","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ingredient-carrots"],"yoast_head":"\n