Carrots provide several nutrients, including healthy carbohydrates to keep your body running, dietary fiber to promote a healthy digestive tract, and essential vitamins and minerals to support the health of tissue throughout your body. A number of the vitamins in carrots help nourish and maintain the largest organ in your body -- your skin.
Vitamin A
Carrots contain high levels of vitamin A, which benefits your skin and other organs. The vitamin A in carrots comes in the form of carotenoids. These are chemicals digested within your body to form vitamin A molecules. Vitamin A promotes the health of a number of tissues and cells, including the eyes, immune system and red blood cells. Vitamin A also maintains the health of your skin, as well as the mucosal membranes found in your digestive, urinary and respiratory tracts, helping maintain strong barriers to protect you from infection. Vitamin A also helps prevent the development of some skin-related disorders, including skin cancer, reports the Linus Pauling Institute. Consuming carrots and other sources of vitamin A will help you maintain healthy, strong skin.
Vitamin B-3
Another vitamin in carrots that helps maintain healthy skin is vitamin B-3, or niacin. Niacin belongs to the family of B vitamins, which your body needs to properly metabolize and absorb nutrients from your diet, helping to provide fuel to your cells and tissues, including your skin. Deficiencies in vitamin B-3 consumption can lead to skin defects, including cracked and scaling skin. Vitamin B-3 may also help prevent or treat some skin diseases, such as acne and skin cancer, though the treatment requires further research to determine its efficacy. A healthy diet rich in vegetables such as carrots can help prevent a vitamin B-3 deficiency and aid in maintaining healthy skin.
Vitamin C
Carrots contain vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, and this vitamin alsoe contributes to healthy skin. Vitamin C is essential to the formation of collagen, a component of skin tissue. Collagen supports your skin cells, allowing for strong tissue growth and maintaining young-looking skin. Without adequate vitamin C consumption, your body cannot make the collagen required to keep your body's tissues, including your skin, strong.
