Food and Health Communications

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List of Alpha Carotene Foods

Frozen carrots 5542
Pumpkin 4795
Raw carrots 4649
Baby carrots 4425
Boiled carrots 4109
Canned carrots 3470
Butternut squash 1130
Hubbard squash 820
Grape leaves, canned 629
Babyfood squash 308
Green beans frozen 292
Fiddle head fern greens 270
Collards raw 238
Baked beans 147
Tomatoes ripe 112
Collards boiled 90
Cilantro 72
Cornmeal 63
Red pepper 62
Napa cabbage 49
Swiss chard 49
Banana pepper 39
Passion fruit 35
Corn canned 33
Peas frozen 33
Apples with skin 30
Tomato paste 29
Avocados 28
Cherries raw 28
Okra 28
Melon cantaloupe 27
Pepper green 22
Corn frozen 18
Hot pepper 18
Mangos 17
Melon crenshaw 15
Pummelos 14
Asparagus 12
Raspberries 12
Bananas 5
Strawberries 5
Orange juice 2

From: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/car98/car_tble.pdfResearchers from the Center for Disease control found that foods that are high in alpha-carotene (AC), may help lower the risk for heart disease and cancer and increase longevity. Supplements are NOT proven to do the same thing so you have to eat your veggies. Here is a list of the most common, heart healthy versions of these items from the USDA (units per 100g of food).Here are 3 things we learned:Vegetable soups that contain carrots are usually high in AC so if you insist on eating out it may be better to choose vegetable soup more often and hamburgers or deli sandwiches less often.Think carrots in the summer and pumpkin or butternut squash in the winter.Not all winter squash is the same - for example, although acorn squash is a powerhouse and contains beta carotene, it is not high in AC. This is also true for sweet potatoes.