Raw Carrots / Caretonoids

 Intakes of fruit, vegetables, and carotenoids and renal cell cancer risk: a pooled analysis of 13 prospective studies, 2010

Fruit and vegetable consumption has been hypothesized to reduce the risk of renal cell cancer. We conducted a pooled analysis of 13 prospective studies, including 1,478 incident cases of renal cell cancer (709 women and 769 men) among 530,469 women and 244,483 men followed for up to 7 to 20 years. Participants completed a validated food-frequency questionnaire at baseline. Using the primary data from each study, the study-specific relative risks (RRs) were calculated using the Cox proportional hazards model and then pooled using a random effects model. We found that fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with a reduced risk of renal cell cancer. Compared with <200 g/d of fruit and vegetable intake, the pooled multivariate RR for ≥600 g/d was 0.68 (95% CI = 0.54–0.87; P value, test for between-studies heterogeneity = 0.86; P value, test for trend = 0.001). Compared with <100 g/d, the pooled multivariate RRs (95% CIs) for ≥400 g/d were 0.79 (0.63–0.99; P value, test for trend = 0.03) for total fruit, and 0.72 (0.48–1.08; P value, test for trend = 0.07) for total vegetables. For specific carotenoids, the pooled multivariate RRs (95% CIs) comparing the highest and lowest quintiles were 0.87 (0.73–1.03) for α-carotene, 0.82 (0.69–0.98) for β-carotene, 0.86 (0.73–1.01) for β-cryptoxanthin, 0.82 (0.64–1.06) for lutein/zeaxanthin, and 1.13 (0.95–1.34) for lycopene. In conclusion, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with decreasing risk of renal cell cancer; carotenoids present in fruit and vegetables may partly contribute to this protection.

Carotenoids modulate the hallmarks of cancer cells, 2015

Biologically active compounds are considered as powerful food factors that elicit profound effects on the maintenance of human health, and disease prevention. The research into how bioactive compounds work and their role in disease prevention in vitro and in vivo is rapidly expanding. Carotenoids are one among several classes of biologically active compounds that have been reported to possess greater antioxidant and anti-cancer activity. Today, this emerging class of nutrients is the driving force in the nutritional supplement industry, and serves as a new frontier in cancer and cardiovascular research. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It is the second most common disease responsible for maximum mortality with about 8.2 million deaths, and the global cancer burden rises to 14.1 million new cases in 2012. This review mainly focused to summarize the anti-cancer therapeutic targets of carotenoids by highlighting the important hallmarks of cancer in terms of (i) cell cycle arrest, (ii) resistance to apoptosis, (iii) metastasis and (iv) angiogenesis alongside the relation of carotenoids in cancer epidemiology.

Carotenoids Are Associated With A Younger Epigenetic Age And Reduced All-Cause Mortality Risk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvk1wvDmlms

Carotenoids clinical trials

https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/dietary-factors/phytochemicals/carotenoids#cancer-prevention

Raw carrots

The effect of raw carrot on serum lipids and colon function, 1979

Two hundred grams of raw carrot eaten at breakfast each day for 3 weeks significantly reduced serum cholesterol by 11%, increased fecal bile acid and fat excretion by 50%, and modestly increased stool weight by 25%. This suggests an associated change in bacterial flora or metabolism. The changes in serum cholesterol, fecal bile acids, and fat persisted 3 weeks after stopping treatment.

Carrots are a familiar snack. They are low in calories and new research suggests they are good for your heart. A large study in the Netherlands shows that people who eat carrots often have a lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who seldom or never eat carrots, even after adjusting for other lifestyle factors.

Many studies show that fruits and vegetables are healthy foods linked to numerous health advantages. This fact is confirmed in a large study of Dutch men and women (20,069 people) free of heart disease and in good health at the start of the study. Researchers studied their diets and followed the group for several years to see who would experience heart disease. After 10.5 years, 245 cases of heart disease were observed.

Carrot_graphThe foods they found linked to lower risk of heart disease included fruits and vegetables as a whole (reduced risk by 30%), berries, and dark yellow fruits and vegetables1. One of the most protective foods against heart disease was carrots. For every 25 grams (about half a carrot) of carrots eaten daily, the risk of coronary heart disease dropped by 32%. A new prescription might be, “Eat a carrot a day to keep the heart doctor away!”

Carrots are best known for their high level of beta-carotene, a form of vitamin A. One carrot has only 25 calories but provides nearly twice the amount of vitamin A you need for a day, provides 2 grams of fiber, is a good source of potassium to help keep blood pressure low, and provides other key nutrients and phytochemicals that contribute to optimal health.

In a recent review on the nutritional benefits of carrots in Food and Nutrition Sciences, the author lists this impressive list of benefits of carrots to one’s health. Carrots are good for eye health, are high in antioxidants, are immune system enhancers, are anti-inflammatory, help lower cholesterol, are protective against diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure, help protect the liver and kidneys, and help support wound healing.2

The bottom line: For good heart health, include carrots regularly in your diet: eat them raw, shredded in salads, cooked, juiced, roasted, and added to stews and soups. Also continue eating a variety of other fruits and vegetables daily. Your heart will thank you.

Reference:

1. British Journal of Nutrition 106:1562-1569

2. Silva Dias, Nutritional and Health Benefits of Carrots, Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2014, 5:2147-2156

Carrot Intake and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Prospective Cohort Study of 57,053 Danes

Carrots are consumed worldwide. Several meta-analysis studies on carrot consumption have indicated that carrots play a central role as a protecting vegetable against development of different types of cancers. A cancer-preventive role of carrots is plausible because they are the main dietary source of the bioactive polyacetylenic oxylipins falcarinol (FaOH) and falcarindiol (FaDOH), which have shown anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory activity in numerous in vitro studies. In addition, purified FaOH and FaDOH have, in recent studies in colorectal cancer (CRC)-primed rats, demonstrated an anti-neoplastic effect in a dose-dependent manner. The mechanisms of action for this effect appears to be due to inhibition of pro-inflammatory and transcription factor biomarkers for inflammation and cancer. However, studies of the CRC-preventive effect of carrots in a large cohort are still missing. We therefore examined the risk of being diagnosed with CRC as predicted by intake of carrots in a Danish population of 57,053 individuals with a long follow-up. Self-reported intake of raw carrots at a baseline of 2–4 carrots or more each week (>32 g/day) was associated with a 17% decrease in risk of CRC with a mean follow-up of >18 years, compared to individuals with no intake of raw carrots even after extensive model adjustments (HR 0.83 CI 95% 0.71; 0.98). An intake below 2–4 carrots each week (<32 g/day) was not significantly associated with reduced risk of CRC (HR 0.93 CI 95% 0.82; 1.06). The results of this prospective cohort study clearly support the results from studies in cancer-primed rats for CRC and hence a CRC-preventive effect of carrots.

it is widely accepted that carrots play a central role as a protecting vegetable against development of cancer, which is supported by recent meta-analysis studies on carrot consumption in relation to the development of breast, gastric, lung and prostate cancer [15,16,17,18]. The cancer-preventive effect of this vegetable has mainly been explained by its high contents of carotenoids; however, intervention studies have shown that supplementation with carotenoids does not protect against development of this disease [10,11,19]. Hence, α-carotene and β-carotene may be biomarkers for the intake of other bioactive constituents in carrots with cancer-preventive effects. Such potential anticancer compounds are indeed present in carrots and includes mainly phenylpropanoids [20] and polyacetylenic oxylipins [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28] of which the latter type of bioactive constituents are the most studied both in vitro and in vivo.

The major polyacetylenic oxylipins in carrots are falcarinol (FaOH) and falcarindiol (FaDOH) and carrots are the major dietary source of this type of bioactive compounds, although they are also present in other apiaceous vegetables such as celery, celeriac, fennel, and parsley [28,29,30]. FaOH and FaDOH have received considerable attention in recent years due to their cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activities in vitro [21,24,25,26,29,30,31,32,33,34] and, recently, the anti-neoplastic effects of these polyacetylenic oxylipins have been demonstrated in cancer-primed rat models for colorectal cancer (CRC) [21,23,27].

Effect of carrot feeding to APCMin mouse on intestinal tumours

Multiple studies show that diets containing carrot are associated with a reduced risk of a range of cancers such as bladder cancer(1). Carrots contain several types of bioactive compounds with potentially beneficial effects, including polyacetylenes such as falcarinol, which for example are responsible for the cytotoxic effects of carrot juice on leukaemia cell cultures(2). Mice with the APCMin mutation develop multiple polyps in both the small and the large intestine by age around three months and have been used extensively as a model to investigate chemopreventive effects of different food constituents(3). The aim of this study was to investigate if feeding diet containing carrot could reduce development of intestinal tumours in APCMin mice. Wild-type C57BL/6J dams were fed pellets either made from 20% blanched freeze dried carrots and 80% powdered standard RM3 diet, or standard control diet, and mated with APCMin males. Pups were raised on the same diets as their mothers, genotyped at 5 weeks and APCMin animals were killed at 12 weeks of age. The mice were dissected, and the tumour size and number measured. Experiments were carried out under project license PPL60/4294, granted to Newcastle University by the UK Home Office.

Carrot feeding significantly reduced the tumour number (P = 0.021) compared with control. The average tumour size showed a strong trend for a reduction compared with the control feeding, even though the differences were not significant (P = 0.057). The results show that this mouse model responds well to the cancer-protective constituents of carrots and thus is suitable for further investigations of the mechanisms involved. The APCMin mouse model will be used to determine whether the carrots primarily affect tumour initiation or tumour growth. In other studies each of the bioactive polyacetylenes found in carrots will be isolated to assess their

roles in tumour reduction, and effects of carrot consumption on human volunteers will be investigated.

Association between dietary carrot intake and breast cancer: A meta-analysis

Background: We aimed to estimate the association between dietary carrot intake and risk of breast cancer by conducting a meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies.

Methods: Relevant studies were identified by searching databases through September 2017. We included studies that reported risk estimates with 95% confidence intervals for the association between dietary carrot intake and breast cancer risk. Random-effects models were used to calculate the summary risk estimates. Publication bias was estimated using Begg's funnel plot and Egger's regression asymmetry test.

Results: A total of 10 articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in the meta-analysis involving 13,747 cases. The combined odds ratios (ORs) of breast cancer for the highest compared with the lowest dietary carrot intake was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.68, 0.90), and a significant heterogeneity was observed. In the subgroup analyses separated by study design, the inverse associations were more pronounced in the case-control studies than in the cohort studies, while the associations did not significantly differ by geographical region, study quality, exposure assessment. Omission of any single study had little effect on the combined risk estimate.

Conclusion: The overall current literatures suggested that dietary carrot intake was associated with decreased risk of breast cancer.

Is carrot consumption associated with a decreased risk of lung cancer? A meta-analysis of observational studies

Findings of epidemiological studies regarding the association between carrot consumption and lung cancer risk remain inconsistent. The present study aimed to summarise the current epidemiological evidence concerning carrot intake and lung cancer risk with a meta-analysis. We conducted a meta-analysis of case-control and prospective cohort studies, and searched PubMed and Embase databases from their inception to April 2018 without restriction by language. We also reviewed reference lists from included articles. Prospective cohort or case-control studies reporting OR or relative risk with the corresponding 95 % CI of the risk lung cancer for the highest compared with the lowest category of carrot intake. A total of eighteen eligible studies (seventeen case-control studies and one prospective cohort study) were included, involving 202 969 individuals and 5517 patients with lung cancer. The pooled OR of eighteen studies for lung cancer was 0·58 (95 % CI 0·45, 0·74) by comparing the highest category with the lowest category of carrot consumption. Based on subgroup analyses for the types of lung cancer, we pooled that squamous cell carcinoma (OR 0·52, 95 % CI 0·19, 1·45), small-cell carcinoma (OR 0·43, 95 % CI 0·12, 1·59), adenocarcinoma (OR 0·34, 95 % CI 0·15, 0·79), large-cell carcinoma (OR 0·40, 95 % CI 0·10, 1·57), squamous and small-cell carcinoma (OR 0·85, 95 % CI 0·45, 1·62), adenocarcinoma and large-cell carcinoma (OR 0·20, 95 % CI 0·02, 1·70) and mixed types (OR 0·61, 95 % CI 0·46, 0·81). Exclusion of any single study did not materially alter the pooled OR. Integrated epidemiological evidence from observational studies supported the hypothesis that carrot consumption may decrease the risk of lung cancer, especially for adenocarcinoma.

Dietary carrot consumption and the risk of prostate cancer

Purpose: Previous studies regarding the association between carrot intake and prostate cancer risk have reported inconsistent results. We conducted a meta-analysis to summarize evidence on this association and to quantify the potential dose-response relationship.

Method: A systematic literature search of papers published in August 2013 was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, the Cochrane register, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases, and the references of the retrieved articles were screened. The summary risk estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the highest versus the lowest intake of carrots were calculated. A dose-response meta-analysis was also conducted for the studies reporting categorical risk estimates for a series of exposure levels.

Results: We found a significantly decreased risk of prostate cancer associated with the intake of carrots (odds ratio 0.82, 95% CI 0.70-0.97). In addition, the dose-response meta-analysis indicated that for each serving per week, or 10 g per day increment of carrot intake, the risk estimate of prostate cancer was 0.95 (0.90-0.99) or 0.96 (0.94-0.99). There was no evidence of significant publication bias based on Begg's funnel plot (P = 1.000) or Egger's test (P = 0.804).

Conclusion: Carrot intake might be inversely associated with prostate cancer risk. Because of the limited number of cohort studies and substantial heterogeneity observed between studies in this meta-analysis, further well-designed prospective studies are warranted to confirm the findings from our study.

Effect of Carrot Intake in the Prevention of Gastric Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Purpose: Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with the incidence and mortality being higher in men than in women. Various studies have shown that eating carrots may play a major role in the prevention of gastric cancer. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the relationship between carrot consumption and gastric cancer.

Materials and methods: We searched multiple databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Persian databases like Scientific Information Database (SID) and IranMedx. The following search terms were used: stomach or gastric, neoplasm or cancer, carcinoma or tumor, and carrot. Statistical analyses were performed using Comprehensive Meta Analysis/2.0 software.

Results: We retrieved 81 articles by searching the databases. After considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 5 articles were included in this study. The odds ratio (OR) obtained by fixed effects model showed that a 26% reduction in the risk of gastric cancer has been associated with the consumption of carrots) OR=0.74; 95% confidence interval=0.68~0.81; P<0.0001). According to funnel graph, the results showed that the possibility of a publication bias does not exist in this study.

Conclusions: The findings of this study showed an inverse relationship between the consumption of carrots and the risk of gastric cancer.

Effect of beta-carotene enriched carrot juice on inflammatory status and fasting blood glucose in type 2 diabetic patients (link)

ABSTRACT:The present research was designed to study the effects of beta-carotene enriched carrot juice on the level of inflammatory indicators and fasting blood glucose in type 2 diabetic patients. A double-blind randomized clinical trial was carried out on 44 patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients were classified into two groups based on their sex and BMI, receiving 200 ml of carrot juice fortified with 10 mg betacarotene (Group A) and normal carrot juice (Group B). Both groups received 200 ml carrot juice daily for eight weeks. Serum C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and betacarotene and fasting blood glucose were assessed. Serum beta-carotene in group A increased significantly, compared to group B (p = 0.01). However, neither the reduction rate of CRP nor the reduction of serum IL-6 in group A was statistically significant, compared to those in group B (-0.8 ±2.1 and -0.6 ±2.4, respectively; p = 0.085). Furthermore, no change in fasting blood glucose was seen. In conclusion, daily consumption of 200 ml of carrot juice fortified with 10 mg of beta-carotene for eight weeks improved serum beta-carotene levels in type 2 diabetic patients, with no significant effects on the serum level of glucose and inflammatory indicators.

Association between dietary fiber and lower risk of all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of cohort studies, 2014

Although in vitro and in vivo experiments have suggested that dietary fiber might have beneficial effects on health, results on the association between fiber intake and all-cause mortality in epidemiologic studies have been inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to quantitatively assess this association. Pertinent studies were identified by searching articles in PubMed and Web of Knowledge through May 2014 and reviewing the reference lists of the retrieved articles. Study-specific risk estimates were combined using random-effects models. Seventeen prospective studies (1997-2014) that had a total of 67,260 deaths and 982,411 cohort members were included. When comparing persons with dietary fiber intakes in the top tertile with persons whose intakes were in the bottom tertile, we found a statistically significant inverse association between fiber intake and all-cause mortality, with an overall relative risk of 0.84 (95% confidence interval: 0.80, 0.87; I(2) = 41.2%). There was a 10% reduction in risk for per each 10-g/day increase in fiber intake (relative risk = 0.90; 95% confidence interval: 0.86, 0.94; I(2) = 77.2%). The combined estimate was robust across subgroup and sensitivity analyses. No publication bias was detected. A higher dietary fiber intake was associated with a reduced risk of death. These findings suggest that fiber intake may offer a potential public health benefit in reducing all-cause mortality.