According to the author of world bestsellers on healthy living Jean Carper, carrots are one of the safest foods to stop cancer, especially smoking-related cancer, including lung and pancreatic cancer. Exciting studies show that eating modest amounts of carrots can slow the development of cancer as well as disrupt the mechanism that begins to turn cells into growing malignant clumps. When the World Center for Cancer Research reviewed the results of 206 human studies, carrots always appeared in first place among cancer fighters (along with green vegetables, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, and cauliflower). Eg. A 1986 Swedish study found carrots as one of two prominent dietary barriers to pancreatic cancer, a particularly dangerous tumor associated with smoking. In a recent study written by Dr. Regina Ziegler, an epidemiologist with the National Cancer Institute, men who ate only 2 and a half carrots a day (medium size) were half as prone to lung cancer as those who ate almost none at all. Similarly, a team from New York State University in Buffalo found that the daily difference in the amount of beta-carotene between high and low risk of getting lung cancer is contained in one carrot! Eating just one carrot a day, says Dr. Menkes, could prevent 15,000 to 20,000 deaths a year in the U.S. caused by lung cancer. Even after years of smoking, carrots can reduce the risk of cancer, slowing down the disease process: beta-carotene stimulates enzymes to repair damaged DNA. Flavones apigenin and terpinol from carrots, cause cell cycle arrest in tumor cells, i.e. cell proliferation.
But it would be a wrong assumption that eating carrots allows smoking. Carrots can not prevent the negative effects on the body of a continuous attack of cigarette smoke. Where carrots can halve the risk, smoking increases it 10 times.
Carrots have been shown to be a good food for cholesterol problems. A study conducted at Harvard in 1993, in which 87,000 nurses were followed for 8 years. Those who ate one carrot a day reduced their risk of stroke by 68% compared with those who ate 1 carrot a month or did not eat carrots at all.
A classic study conducted in the UK showed that by eating 2 and ½ carrots every morning for breakfast, respondents reduced cholesterol by an average of 11%, which can be partly due to the fiber it contains, but also beta-carotene. Beta-carotene, like lycopene, stimulates enzymes but inhibits those that raise cholesterol levels.
Furthermore, carrots prevent constipation.
It is one of the best means of preventing the process of putrefaction in the intestines, and is especially successful in inflammation of the stomach and intestines, because of its ability to create more abundant and softer stool, thanks to the fiber it contains. It is especially good, in prison, to combine carrots with other foods rich in fiber, such as wheat bran. Increasing stool mass can also reduce the chance of getting bowel cancer, as this also dilutes carcinogenic substances and thus reduces their chance of contact with the intestinal walls. In addition, carrots are rich in a type of pectin that only apples still have, which is important in protecting the intestines. Because it regulates stool by increasing its volume, it is especially recommended for pregnant women and young mothers. Carrot juice neutralizes stomach acid by eliminating heartburn better than baking soda, which is also important in pregnant women.
