Monday, November 16, 2009

beta carotene in food improve your health

Foods rich in beta carotene are usually the orange color of many fruits and vegetables such as carrots, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes.Beta-carotene is one of a group of natural chemicals known as carotenes or carotenoids. Among the carotenoids food group, beta carotene is the very good source of pro-Vitamin A compound which is essential for your regular diet.Not only in orange color foods that contain beta-carotene,But also find in some red,pink and white fruit.

Best Sources of Beta Carotene Foods
-Carrots. You can buy canned carrot juice which is the richest source of beta carotene. A half cup of concentrated carrot juice contains Vitamin A.
-Spinach. Spinach is one of the most rich beta carotene foods among the green vegetables. You can eat half cup of boiled Spinach . You can also eat it raw and still get high a high dose of beta carotene. It is recommended to include 1 cup of Spinach in your daily diet.
-Apricots. You can drink a cup or two of Apricot juice, either blended with its peelings or canned, and you will get more than 4,000 IU of vitamin A from it. You can also buy from any grocery canned nectar of Apricot which is a very rich beta carotene source. Just make sure that you choose the all-natural variety and those without other preservatives.
Beta carotene is useful for people from recovering:

- Prevention against cancer and heart disease
- To slow the progression of cataracts
- To prevent mascular degeneration
- To boost immunity
- To protect the skin against sunburn
- Asthma
- Depression
- Infertility
- Parkinson’s disease
- Psoriasis
- Arthritis

Although it contains so much benefit,you must be careful about high doses of beta-carotene which can cause a slight increase in the risk of heart disease and cancer, especially in people who smoke cigarettes and who consume excessive alcohol.Other side effects include diarrhea and a yellowish tinge to the skin, both of which subside then the intake of beta-carotene is lowered.