Wonder carrots

Carrots come with umpteen health benefits and you might have heard the elders in your family recommending it to you.

Extensively used in salads, sandwiches and many other dishes, this orange colored vegetable offers a wide range of health benefits. Carrots are found to improve your eyesight and are one of the best foods you can have for good vision. A single carrot contains 200% of your daily requirement of Vitamin A. It can be used as an antiseptic by applying on the cut in shredded or boiled form.

Carrots can reduce the risk of lung cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer as it has Falcarinol, a compound with anti-cancer properties. It also has beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin which is an antioxidant that helps in reducing the risk of cancer by preventing damage to healthy cells.

It is rich in Vitamin A and antioxidants which prevent your skin from ageing. As we grow older, our skin suffers from free radical damage, a process similar to how metals rust after exposure to air.

The vegetable is loaded with beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lutein which are good for your heart, and can help in preventing heart diseases like heart attack and hypertension.

The crunchy carrots are good for your teeth too! Eating a carrot produces a lot of saliva in your mouth, which clears out cavity forming bacteria as your saliva is alkaline in nature. It is also found to increase sperm motility by 6.5 to 8 percent.

Vitamin K, a nutrient present in carrots helps speed up the formation of blood clot to prevent excess bleeding during cuts and injuries. Carrots are not only good for your eyes, skin and heart but also good for immunity system. It is your immunity system which is responsible for healing your body from many ailments, and protecting it from infections.

Being rich in fibre, it also helps ease constipation. Vitamin A assists the liver in flushing out the toxins from the body. It reduces the bile and fat in the liver. The fibers present in carrots help clean out the colon and hasten waste movement.

A recent study even said that people who ate more than six carrots a week are less likely to suffer a stroke than those who ate only one carrot a month or less.