Other than pure water, which behaves neutrally, all foods can be classified as either alkaline-forming or acid-forming in the body. Your body must maintain the proper pH balance of its bodily fluids to function properly. A diet that emphasizes acidifying foods will deplete your body’s alkali reserves, requiring it to borrow alkalizing compounds from bones and vital organs to buffer and remove excess acid. This can lead to chronic, low-grade acidosis, a condition that inhibits proper cell function and can set the stage for a number of diseases including cancer. Like most fruits and vegetables, carrots are alkaline-forming in the body.
Acidic Vs. Alkaline
A food’s pH value is reflective of its acid content, but it doesn’t necessarily indicate whether it’s acid- or alkaline-forming in the body. All fruits and vegetables contain enough naturally-occurring acids to give them acidic pH values below 7.0, but in the body, most are alkaline-forming. Many fruits and vegetables contain potassium citrate, which the metabolic process converts to the alkalizing compound potassium bicarbonate. Organic carrots are no exception. Their acid content gives them a pH range of 4.9 to 5.2, classifying them as low acid foods. However, organically grown carrots are among the top most alkaline-forming vegetables, according to “The pH Balance Diet.” Many other root vegetables, including rutabagas, parsnips, radishes, beets, turnips and sweet potatoes, are also highly alkalizing.
Nutritional Profile
Carrots are root vegetables related to parsnips, parsley, dill and fennel. Although orange carrots are most common, the more than 100 varieties of carrots range in color from purple to white, yellow and red. Of the widely consumed vegetables, carrots have the highest concentration of vitamin A carotenes, according to “The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods.” Two large carrots provide approximately four times the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. They're excellent sources of dietary fiber, vitamin K and biotin, and sources of potassium and vitamins C and B6. A 3.5-oz serving of carrots provides 41 calories and 9.6g of carbohydrate, of which 3g are dietary fiber and 4.5g are naturally-occurring sugars.
Health Benefits
Aside from supporting the body’s natural homeostasis and contributing to important alkali reserves, regular consumption of carrots provides a host of health benefits. Their high concentration of antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and many types of cancer. Carrots are especially protective against bladder, cervical, colon, prostate, lung and esophageal cancers. Extensive studies show that eating one large carrot a day can cut lung cancer risk in half, according to “The pH Balance Diet” and “The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods.” Their high beta-carotene content also protects against macular degeneration and cataract development and helps promote good vision in the dark.
Considerations
All conventionally grown vegetables and fruits are less alkaline-forming than their organically grown counterparts, because pesticides diminish their alkalizing potential. This is especially important in the case of carrots, notes “The Acid Alkaline Food Guide,” because conventional carrots aren’t grown in mineral-rich soil. These carrots contain fewer minerals and are higher in natural sugars, according to the book, and thus tend to be slightly acid-forming in the body.
Cooking and freezing carrots slightly reduces their alkalizing effect, while processing them with sugar reduces it altogether because refined sugar is highly acidifying. Products such as carrot cake, carrot cookies and scones, cooked carrots glazed with brown sugar, carrot ice cream, and carrot jelly are all acid-forming in the body.
References
- “The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods”; Michael Murray, N.D., et al.; 2005
- “The Acid Alkaline Food Guide”; Dr. Susan E. Brown, et al.; 2006
- “The pH Balance Diet”; Bharti Vyas, et al.; 2007
- “Alkalize or Die”; Dr. Theodore A. Baroody; 1991
- Oklahoma State University: The Importance of Food pH in Commercial Canning Operations; William McGlynn
Member Comments