If you’ve been digging root vegetables—carrots, sweet potatoes and the like—here’s a good reason to fill your plate with more of them. Eating produce high in the plant-derived nutrient alpha-carotene may significantly lower your risk of death from heart disease, cancer, and other diseases, says a study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Follow-Up Study (NHANES III), researchers compared blood levels of alpha-carotene from 15,318 U.S. adults age 20 and older. After roughly 14 years, researchers found that 3,810 of the participants had died from various causes, including heart disease, stroke, cancers, and chronic lower respiratory disease. But participants in this study with higher blood levels of alpha-carotene had a significantly lower risk of death from all causes.
If you haven’t heard of alpha-carotene, you’re likely more familiar with its more popular relatives, beta-carotene, lutien, and lycopene. Previous studies have linked these carotenoids—from foods, not supplements—to a reduced risk of a wide range of diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, breast and colon cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
Bottom-line: Stock up on yellow-orange and dark-green vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, broccoli, green beans, green peas, spinach, turnip greens, collards, and leaf lettuce. These vegetables have higher levels of alpha-carotene than other types.
Read more on consuming a heart-healthy diet and take a look at our favorite ways to fit produce into your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and beyond.
Sources:
Serum a-Carotene Concentrations and Risk of Death Among US Adults [Archives of Internal Medicine]
Carotenoids [Oregon State University]
—Ginger Skinner
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