Carrot is heart-friendly

Dietary fiber is divided into two types: soluble (meaning it dissolves in water) and insoluble. Both types of dietary fiber are important. They resist digestion and help you feel full, naturally decreasing your hunger and food intake and keeping weight and body fat down.

The soluble fiber in carrots and other foods helps keep arteries clean primarily by lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. LDL cholesterol helps plaque form in the arteries, narrowing the passageways and restricting blood flow to the heart. The process is fairly straightforward, and it starts with bile acids.

Bile acids are molecules in the body that aid in the formation of molecule clusters called micelles. Micelles are a necessary component in the reaction that takes cholesterol from the food we eat and integrates it into our bodies. When we consume soluble fiber like carrots, it binds to bile acids, preventing them from participating in the reactions necessary to form micelles. With micelle formation reduced, the body’s absorption of cholesterol is reduced.

And with cholesterol absorption reduced, less plaque ends up building up in the arteries. Fiber can be as good as drugs like Lipitor at lowering cholesterol; if you eat the daily recommended amount of fiber, you could lower your cholesterol by up to 20 per cent.

Fiber isn’t the only reason to eat vegetables, of course. Carrots are the greatest source of beta-carotene, a substance that acts as both an antioxidant and a pro-vitamin. Antioxidants can counter cell damage, which slows aging and disease processes and can help prevent death by heart disease and cancer. Pro-vitamins are chemicals the body can convert into vitamins. In the case of carrots, this pro-vitamin is beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. Vitamin A helps the immune system work most effectively, allowing it to fight off disease and infection.