If you have ever wondered about the health benefits of carrots, hence, made some research about them on the internet, you must be aware of the health benefits of carrots. Since carrot juice is extracted from whole carrots, you can guess the potential benefits of carrot juice for your health.
Whether or not carrot juice is tasty depends on the person. However, the health benefits of carrot juice shouldn’t be in dispute. In this article, we’ll discover the health benefits of carrot juice.
The answer to the question that why carrot juice is so beneficial for human health can only be explained by its rich nutrient content.
Let’s glance at the nutrients that a cup of carrot juice can provide to your body. Thereafter, we will thoroughly investigate carrot juice’s potential health benefits.
Carrot Juice Nutrition Facts
To begin with, it is safe to say that carrot juice is packed with essential nutrients. Therefore, drinking a glass of carrot juice daily basis can provide you with these essential elements, thereby, boosting your overall health.
For those who have weight concerns; the juice is low in both carbs and calories.
Although carrot juice contains various nutrients, this natural drink is particularly high in vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A ( beta-carotene), potassium and antioxidants.
According to NutritionData, one cup of (236 ml) carrot juice contains (1) :
Carrot Juice Health Benefits
Given the fact that carrot juice contains various essential nutrients, this natural drink brings nothing but health to your life. We compiled 10 potential health benefits of carrot juice for you. Without further ado, let’s go through these impressive, science-backed health benefits.
1- May Reduce Cancer Risk
As doctors and scientists emphasise at every opportunity ” there is no single food or drink that can fight or prevent cancer alone”. That said, they know the importance of a healthy diet for minimising cancer risk (2).
Can drinking carrot juice lower the risk of cancer, then? Well, scientific studies and experts suggest so. Carrot juice may reduce the risk of cancer.
Even though there is a limited number of studies on the relationship between carrot juice and cancer prevention, we know from scientific studies that antioxidants – that are highly available in carrot juice – fight against cancer-causing free radicals in the body.
Lutein and zeaxanthin are two antioxidants found in carrots juice. As stated in a scientific report: some studies show that these two antioxidants may reduce cancer risk, particularly breast and lung cancer (3).
Moreover, in another study, researchers discovered that polyacetylenes found in carrots have cancer-fighting properties (4).
If we take all of these studies and expert views into account, it should be safe to say that certain compounds and nutrients found in carrot juice may help your body fight against the molecules that are known to cause cancer such as free radicals.
2- May Improve Digestion
We all, from time to time, experience digestive issues such as bloating, constipation or diarrhoea. And, these problems occur due mainly to our wrong food choices. Therefore, it is important to choose the foods carefully to keep these digestive problems at bay.
As experts say, dietary fibre is one of the essential nutrients for the digestive system. The good news is a glass of carrot juice can meet almost 10% of your body’s daily fibre requirement.
It might be odd to hear that a specific food/drink can help you with both diarrhoea and constipation. But, carrot juice can help you recuperate faster in both issues.
The high fibre content of carrots juice will improve stool movement, thus helping you overcome constipation (5).
Additionally, carrot juice can be an excellent choice if you suffer from diarrhoea. Because you would most likely lose some essential minerals and vitamins through diarrhoea. One of them that you can potentially lose with large quantities is potassium.
If you don’t enough potassium in your body, you can experience fatigue and weakness, according to experts (6). Given that carrot juice is amazingly rich in potassium, it can restore the depleted potassium in your body. Moderation is key, nevertheless.
Last but not least, with its alkaline-forming properties and fibre content carrot juice can be an ideal drink for people with acid reflux, which is one of the most common digestive problems.
3- Boosts Immune System
One of the obvious health benefits of carrot juice is to strengthen the immune system. With certain nutrients that carrot juice contains, the juice can give a boost to your immune system if consumed regularly.
Vitamin A, C, B6, potassium and dietary fibre make carrot juice an excellent choice to strengthen the immune system.
Most of us have already heard that vitamin C is indispensable for the immune system. In addition to Vitamin C, vitamin A, as well, promotes both the innate and adaptive immune system, as suggested in scientific research (7).
Vitamin B6, on the other hand, is claimed by Cleveland Clinic to be one of the 3 most important vitamins for immunity (8).
Therefore, you may consider drinking carrot juice on a regular basis to boost your immune system, especially in the winter months.
4- Helps Regulate Blood Sugar
As there is no cure for diabetes, people with diabetes have to manage their blood sugar levels with certain treatment methods. Eating the right foods is one of the important components of their treatment process.
People with diabetes are advised by their doctors or nutritionists to prefer foods with a low glycemic index to prevent blood sugar increase. Since carrots’ glycemic index is low, drinking carrot juice can be ideal for people with diabetes (9).
We, nevertheless, recommend you talk to your doctor about your intention of drinking carrot juice if you are diabetic.
5- Improves Heart Health
Carrot juice is not going to improve your heart health instantly. However, this natural drink may prevent you from having heart disease by helping your body avoid the risk factors for heart disease such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
High blood pressure can lead individuals to heart attacks. Therefore, it is important to keep the blood pressure level at a comfortable level.
Carrot juice can help you with this issue thanks to its high potassium level. As the American Heart Association indicates: potassium is important in managing high blood pressure (10).
Furthermore, drinking carrot juice may decrease the bad cholesterol level, which is another risk factor for heart disease. Researchers suggest that drinking carrot juice may protect heart health by decreasing blood lipid peroxidation (11).
6- Increases Skin Quality
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, carrot juice can work wonders for your appearance too. The rich antioxidant content of carrot juice makes this beverage a perfect choice for your skin.
Antioxidants are known to neutralise free radicals that can potentially harm skin health. Therefore, drinking antioxidant-rich carrot juice will increase your body’s antioxidant levels, thereby, providing you with healthy skin.
Another way carrot juice improves your skin quality is through collagen production. High vitamin C in carrot juice can trigger collagen production, which provides elasticity and hydration to the skin (12).
7- Improves Eye Health
Since almost all of us know that carrots are the perfect foods for eye health, it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that carrot juice, too, is beneficial for eye health.
Eye-protecting property of carrots stems from their high vitamin A, more accurately, beta carotene content that gives the carrots their orange colour. The human body converts beta-carotene to vitamin A.
Vitamin A is one of the essential nutrients for eye health. Therefore, in its deficiency and absence; eye disorders such as night blindness and macular degeneration can occur (13).
In addition to carrot juice’s high vitamin A Content, antioxidants such as lutein and zeaxanthin, found in carrot juice, contribute to eye health.
8- It May be Ideal for Pregnant Women
As carrot juice is packed with essential nutrients, this natural beverage can be ideal during the pregnancy process. Especially, pregnant women with diabetes may consider drinking carrot juice to regulate their blood sugar levels.
The reason we said carrot juice might be an ideal drink for pregnant women is mainly related to its high vitamin C and fibre content. According to medical experts; these two nutrients are essential for pregnant women (14).
Nonetheless, as pregnancy is a delicate process, we strongly recommend pregnant women consult their doctors about diet choices, including carrot juice, during the pregnancy period.
9- Good For the Brain
Carrot juice can be a brain-boosting as well as a brain-protecting juice !! Even though there is no specific study that investigates whether or not carrot juice improves brain functions, two nutrients found in carrot juice namely; beta-carotene and potassium are known to be essential for brain health.
Firstly, carrot juice’s brain-protecting property is attributed to its beta-carotene content. In a comprehensive study, researchers revealed that beta carotene can potentially improve memory functions and can be useful for memory enhancement (15).
Secondly, potassium- which also abounds in carrot juice – plays a role in helping brain cells communicate with each other, according to WebMD (16).
10 – May Clean Liver
Last but not least. Carrot juice may be beneficial for your liver, too.
The potential liver-protecting effect of carrot juice stems from its carotenoid content, which acts as a type of antioxidant, according to Healthline(17).
In an article, written about the relationship between carrots and the liver, it is claimed that carrots protect liver health by supplying carotenoids that promote the liver to remove more waste (18).
Moreover, according to the American Liver Foundation; fibre, found in the juice, is important for the liver to work at an optimal level (19).
Potential Side Effects of Carrot Juice
Although carrot juice is quite beneficial – as we discussed throughout the article –there are a couple of things you need to know about carrot juice.
1- Skin Discoloration:
We repeatedly underlined carrot juice’s high beta-carotene content. While beta-carotene is an essential compound for your body, too much beta-carotene can show a reverse effect and turn your skin colour yellow/orange.
2- Vitamin A toxicity
Vitamin A toxicity occurs when an individual consumes a large amount of vitamin A. Given that carrot juice is high in beta-carotene ( vitamin A ), excess consumption of carrots or carrot juice can lead to vitamin A toxicity.
Too much beta carotene builds up in the liver and may cause some symptoms. Headaches, rash, increased pressure in the brain and nausea are among the main symptoms, according to Healthline (20).
3- Diabetes
Earlier in this article, we indicated carrot juice is an ideal beverage choice to regulate blood sugar owing to its low glycemic index.
While we still support the idea that carrot juice is safe for people with diabetes, we need to emphasise that excess consumption of carrot juice can bring about a fluctuation in blood sugar.
Therefore, diabetic people need to discuss their diet with their doctors and dietitians to avoid potential diabetes complications.
4- Pesticides
Pesticides are used in modern agriculture with the aim of protecting agricultural products, including carrots. As such, if you juice carrots without washing, you can put your health at risk.
The potential pesticides or germs on the vegetable can enter the body through consumption and cause certain health problems.
Ensure you have washed the carrots thoroughly before consuming them.
5- Blood Clotting
Some people are susceptible to blood clotting. Therefore, many of them use blood-thinning drugs. Those, who use blood-thinning drugs shouldn’t consume too much vitamin K, because, vitamin K can promote blood clotting.
Due to the fact that carrot juice is high in vitamin K, avoid drinking this beverage in large amounts.
How much carrot juice is safe to drink daily?
There are many variables to consider such as age, health condition, weight, height and genetic factors, therefore, it is hard to determine the right amount of daily carrot juice intake. However, 1 cup of carrot juice every day would be ideal for most people.
The Bottom Line
As long as you don’t drink an excessive amount of carrot juice, this veggie drink will support your overall health with its rich nutrition content.
Bear in mind that, while carrot juice contains less fibre than carrots, it contains more beta carotene than carrots do.
Tarkan is an experienced health writer ( currently more than 600 articles ) and also the founder of this website namely www.neededforhealth.com. His expertise in health stems from in-depth medical research and knowledge which he obtained over the course of many years.
Tarkan enjoys sharing factual knowledge on health, psychology and nutrition. He always aims to deliver evidence-based recommendations, provide links to related scientific studies.
