ergo-log.com

Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

24.11.2023

50 milliliters of carrot juice goes in, one kilo of body fat goes out

If you drink 50 milliliters of fresh carrot juice every day for 6 weeks, you might lose a kilo of your body fat. Well, this certainly happened to the test subjects in a small human study, which was published in Nutrition and Metabolic Insights in 2021.

Study
Mahesh Malleswarapu, a researcher at the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition in India, had 14 type 2 diabetics - 7 men and 7 women - drink a bottle containing 50 milliliters of fresh carrot juice every day for 6 weeks just after lunch. . The subjects did not change their lifestyle during the 6 weeks.

There was no control group.

The researchers used carrot juice that they had made themselves. They bought wortes at a local market and put them in a juicer.

Results
Including carrot juice in the diet resulted in a statistically significant decrease in body weight of almost one kilo. This is not much, but at the same time the fat percentage of the test subjects decreased by a statistically significant 1.5 percent. This implies that the test subjects lost one kilo of their fat mass.

Carrots contain substances that significantly increase the absorption of glucose. [Carrot juice works so well that we sometimes wonder why sports nutrition doesn't do anything with carrots, but that's another story.] Not surprisingly, the test subjects' glucose and insulin levels increased. However, markers for insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease did not worsen.

Click on the table below for a larger version.

Mechanism
"Carotenoids, including beta-carotene, have been reported to decrease adiposity and improve adipose tissue functions", write the researchers. [Arch Biochem Biophys. 2015 Apr 15:572:112-25.]

"In addition, the role of carotenoids and their cleavage products on adipose tissue biology and functions have been extensively reviewed recently." [Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Biol Lipids. 2020 Nov;1865(11):158676.]

Other bioactive phytochemicals?
The daily bottle of carrot juice contained approximately 2400 micrograms of beta-carotene. The concentration of beta-carotene in the blood of the test subjects increased, unsurprisingly, by a factor of two. Of course, this does not mean that beta-carotene is the only slimming factor in carrot juice.

"In the present study, we attribute the beneficial effects of carrot juice to the vitamin A and/or beta-carotene", write the researchers.

"However, the role of other bioactive components of carrots, including phenolics (coumaric acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid, cinnamic acid, vanillic acid, pyrogallol, etc.), flavonoids (cirsimartin,didymin, kaempferol, quercetin etc.), and lignans (matairesinol, sesaminol, etc.) cannot be ruled out."

Source:
Nutr Metab Insights. 2021 Jul 15:14:11786388211014917.

More:
Carrot juice puts free radicals on a leash 24.10.2023
Carrots are healthier if you don't peel them 28.06.2020
Eating a few raw carrots every week reduces your risk of colon cancer 13.04.2020

Archives:
Weight Loss
Carrots

Significant weight loss after switching to low-carbohydrate bread The slimming effect of low-carb bread is even greater among people over 55.	Animal study | Eat stinging nettles as a vegetable, and lose body fat The common stinging nettle, in Latin Urtica dioica, is a super food that burns fat, reduces fat reserves and increases insulin sensitivity.	Better results by adding dried plums to a weight loss diet If you are trying to lose weight, replacing unhealthy snacks with dried plums may result in better results.