What is beta carotene?
Beta carotene is colorful pigments mostly red-orange in color and is mostly found in fruits or vegetables-mostly in carrots and some fruits. The name was derived from the Latin word “carota,” which means carrot, and the Greek word “Beta.”
Carrots are the main source of beta carotene supplements, which are very effective in human body health. The body converts these nutrients into vitamin A, which plays a very important role in maintaining our skin health and mucus membrane along with healthy vision and the entire immune system.
Beta carotene can do not play a major role in all these, but vitamin A does. Vitamin A is sourced from the food we eat every day. It is advisable that you must balance every diet you take by making sure that every meal contains those fruits carrying beta carotene nutrients i.e., most fruits. The advantage with beta carotene is that the body can just take in as many nutrients as it needs.
Remember, taking much of vitamin A can be toxic. The toxic levels of vitamin A may occur if you take excess supplements.
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benefits and uses of beta carotene
Beta carotene offers a number of benefits to human health in a number of ways, as seen below.
It is used as an antioxidant
Beta carotene plays an important role as an antioxidant, just like all other carotenoids. Antioxidants protect the human body from free radicals by inhibiting the oxidation of other substances. Free radical is very harmful substances in our bodies-since it can damage body cells through oxidation, and as a result, it can cause so many illnesses.
Several studies have been done, and it proves that consuming food that contains antioxidants help in protecting the immune system against free radicals and lower the risk of contracting heart and cancer-related diseases.
The research suggested that those consuming at least four servings of carotene-rich food in the form of fruits or vegetables have lower chances of developing these diseases.
It slows down cognitive decline.
Cognition decline is thought to be a result of oxidative stress. The research revealed that antioxidant supplements are very important in the prevention of deteriorating cognition.
It is proven that men who have been using carotene supplements for a while are likely to experience cognitive decline.
It helps in keeping the lungs healthy as people age.
According to the BMJ report in march 2006, the research showed that damaged lungs caused by free oxygen radicals are compensated by high blood beta carotene levels.