Beta-Carotene Boosts Antioxidant Properties

Although the words beta-carotene may sound more like something you would find on a computer instead of in your body, you will want to make sure it is a good portion of your diet. Since beta-carotene is a source of vitamin A, you may think you are eating enough through a healthy intake of meat and eggs, but food sources rich in beta-carotene transform into not one, but two vitamin A molecules in your system essentially doubling their power.

Also called “pro-vitamin A,” by boosting the nutrients from vitamin A by two into your system it stays longer providing maximum health benefits. The other sources of carotenoids—over 100 different sources of antioxidant properties—only provide one molecule of vitamin A, so why settle for one when you can get two?

Because of the incredible antioxidant powers, beta-carotene has proven to effectively protect against multiple types of cancer, especially targeted at lung cancer—the leading cause of cancer deaths throughout the United States. Besides helping to protect from cancer, beta-carotene is especially helpful against vision loss, and past research has shown that this compound also protects from damage caused by free radicals, help for the skin, and a boost of immunity.

Researchers in the 1970s found that beta-carotene can protect the skin from developing an inherited skin disease called erythropoietic protoporphyria, where the sun causes skin to become red and inflamed almost like an allergic reaction. In 1985, a study was done where volunteers taking beta-carotene were found to have more T-helper cells, essential for a healthy immune system. A more recent study among the elderly resulted in a minimum intake of 30mg of beta-carotene per day to increase these cells which are needed to attack unwanted matter within the body.

Beta-carotene is called on to almost single-handedly wipe out free radicals that have already formed in your body. By ridding the body of “singlet oxygen” the species that has the ability to generate free radicals, beta-carotene works overtime to squash the oxygen species before it can turn into skin or lung cancer, but it needs the help of vitamin E. Vitamin E is taken to turn singlet oxygen into its natural state but is destroyed in the process, and also tries to prevent free radicals from ever being formed. Experts recommend that beta-carotene be balanced out with an intake of vitamin E to combat the singlet oxygen together.

As far as a minimum or maximum intake per day for beta-carotene, the government has yet to put a number to it. The good news is that we can eat as much non-toxic beta-carotene food sources we want everyday and not harm your body with the excess amounts. Once converted to vitamin A within the small intestine, any excess will be converted by the liver. If the body cannot use all of the beta-carotene you have consumed, your body doesn’t waste, and knows how to store it properly inside fat tissue or let it circulate through the blood until it is needed. This is why foods like spinach, broccoli, and carrots are on a list of “superfoods” you should be eating.

Here is what else you could be eating to keep the beta-carotene properly stored in your system: Butternut squash, turnip greens, kale, beet greens, red peppers, tomatoes, collard greens, apricots, cantaloupe, peaches, prunes, and the gem of my Thanksgiving table side dishes…the humble and underrated sweet potato.

Another reason to up your dosage of beta-carotene is the possibility that it may protect your cardiovascular health and ward off heart disease, heart attack, or stroke. While hard-pressed to find anything negative about this miracle antioxidant, I did find one possible side effect to eating too many foods high in beta-carotene like sweet potatoes and carrots; you may develop a yellowish tinge to your skin because of the increased levels in your blood, so be sure to watch how much you eat.