Vegetables are a vital component in any healthy diet, and carrots can be a great way to satisfy daily dietary requirements. The baby carrot is an increasingly popular type of vegetable that is low in calories and full of nutrients. Baby carrots are not actually any different from regular carrots. Baby carrots are cut and formed from misshaped carrots that otherwise could not be sold. Although sometimes twice as expensive as regular carrots, baby carrots are convenient and portable.
Calories
Baby carrots are a low-calorie food. The Nutrition and Labeling Education Act (NLEA) of 1990 requires food packaging to carry nutrition information on the label. One NLEA serving (85 g) of baby carrots contains 30 calories.
Carbohydrates
Almost all calories in baby carrots come from carbohydrates. Each serving contains 7 g of total carbohydrate. Of that 7 g, 2.5 g is dietary fiber and 4 g is sugar. Because dietary fiber is difficult for the body to digest and therefore has no caloric effect in the body, the net carbohydrate total for each serving of baby carrots is 4.5 g.
Fat and Protein
There is a negligible amount of fat in baby carrots. Each serving contains 0.1 g of total fat (0 g saturated fat, 0 g monounsaturated fat, 0.1 g polyunsaturated fat). Each serving also contains 0.5 g of protein.
Vitamins
Baby carrots are full of vitamin A (234 percent of the Food and Drug Administration's daily value for a reference 2,000-calorie diet). It comes in the form of beta-carotene, a plant compound that is also responsible for the orange color of carrots. In addition to vitamin A, baby carrots also contain a moderate amount of vitamin K (10 percent of daily value) and small amounts of folate (6 percent of daily value), vitamin B-6 (4 percent of daily value), and vitamin C (4 percent of daily value). Vitamin A helps with cell metabolism. Vitamin K aids blood clotting. Folate and Vitamin B-6 are involved with energy metabolism. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that fights harmful free radicals in the body.
Minerals
Carrots contain small amounts of a variety of minerals, including potassium (6 percent of daily value), manganese (6 percent of daily value), iron (4 percent of daily value) and copper (4 percent of daily value). Potassium helps regulate fluid levels in the body. Manganese plays a role in enzyme function. Iron and copper transport oxygen through the blood.
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