"Consuming This Snack Thrice Weekly May Offer Significant Health Advantages"

When you’re looking for a snack in between meals, baby carrots are an easy and healthy choice—and new research suggests that enjoying them a few times a week can improve your health in a unique way.

The new study found that young adults who ate about half of a cup of baby carrots three times weekly had higher levels of carotenoids in their skin. These levels were even higher in people who both ate baby carrots and took a multivitamin.

Carotenoids are pigments that give carrots their orange coloring. But they’re also essential for human health—carotenoids work as antioxidants, and the body can also convert them into vitamin A.

“Previous studies have demonstrated that skin carotenoid levels can be increased by consuming three times the recommended serving of fruits and vegetables every day for three weeks,” Mary Harper Simmons, study coauthor and a Master of Science in Nutrition student at Samford University, said in a press release. “Our findings suggest that a small, simple dietary modification—incorporating baby carrots as a snack—can significantly increase skin carotenoid accumulation.”

The results of the study were presented at the American Society for Nutrition’s NUTRITION 2024 conference on June 30, and though the study was selected by a committee of experts, it has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Here’s what experts had to say about the health benefits of snacking on baby carrots, why carotenoids are so important for your health, and how to incorporate more of them into your diet.

Because so few Americans meet daily recommended intakes of fruits and vegetables, researchers wanted to see if making a small dietary change could have an impact on skin carotenoid levels.

To investigate this, the team recruited 60 young adults and split them into four groups. The control group ate 100 grams of Granny Smith apple slices (which are low in carotenoids) three times a week. The remaining participants either ate 100 grams of baby carrots three times a week, took a multivitamin containing a carotenoid, or did a combination of both.

The researchers measured the amount of carotenoids in the participants’ skin before and after the four weeks of the intervention. The concentration of carotenoids present in the skin can serve as a marker for overall antioxidant status and a person’s general dietary intake of the compound.

After a month, participants who snacked on baby carrots saw a 10.8% increase in their skin carotenoid scores. Those who both ate baby carrots and took a multivitamin had levels that were 21.6% higher.

However, people who ate the apples or who took only the multivitamin did not experience a significant increase in skin carotenoid levels.

“This preliminary study is a testament to the power of focusing on the whole matrix of the vegetable to get the most impact in nutrient absorption,” Taylor Berggren, RDN, registered dietitian and microbiome specialist at Pendulum Therapeutics, told Health.

The study reinforces the idea that the carotenoids a person consumes through fruits and vegetables “are bioavailable and can accumulate in tissues throughout the body,” added Taylor Wallace, PhD, founder of the Think Healthy Group and an adjunct associate professor at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

As for why the multivitamin group didn’t see the same positive results, even though the supplement contained a carotenoid, Wallace said it could have something to do with participants’ consumption of fat.

“Carotenoids are fat soluble, and therefore their absorption increases when you co-consume some type of fat in the diet,” he told Health. “People tend to consume baby carrots alongside other foods [such as] salad, and/or some type of dressing that contains fat.”

On the other hand, people don’t tend to do the same with their multivitamins.

“This is another example, among many, of why it is smart to take multivitamins with food, as most also contain fat-soluble vitamins [such as] vitamins A, D, E, and K,” Wallace explained. “People often think multivitamins don’t work…but in fact…they may not be taking them correctly to maximize their potential.”

Carotenoids are pigments found naturally in plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria, and they’re responsible for the vibrant red, orange, and yellow hues in many fruits and vegetables. They can support our health in different ways, but in general, carotenoids function as antioxidants.

There are hundreds of types of carotenoids, but three—beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene—are most important to human health. Carrots are one of the most well-known sources of beta-carotene in particular. Some research has suggested that these three compounds can be protective against cardiovascular disease, some forms of cancer, age-related macular degeneration, and the buildup of plaque in the arteries.

Additionally, beta-carotene is converted by the body into vitamin A, which is essential for maintaining healthy vision, skin, and immune function.

However, increasing carotenoid levels may not be recommended for everyone—research has found that people who smoke or used to smoke, or people exposed to asbestos may have a higher risk of lung cancer and death when taking supplements with beta-carotene.

Though this research suggests snacking on carrots is a great way to boost carotenoid levels, it’s certainly not the only way to do so, experts said.

“Carrots get a lot of the attention for the carotenoid compounds, but they aren’t the only place to find them,” said Breggen. “Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin, bell peppers, and cantaloupe (think orange) also contain carotenoids. You can even get carotenoids from leafy greens like kale, spinach, and collard greens.”

And to really maximize absorption, be sure to eat carotenoid-containing foods alongside a fat.