Juicing Recipes for Vitamin A – Juicing for Beta-Carotene

Technically speaking, vitamin A is a nutrient that is only found in dairy products and eggs. There are no actual fruit or vegetables that contain vitamin A. So when we talk about juicing recipes for vitamin A in reality we are talking about juicing for beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is an antioxidant of the carotenoid family that appears in many fruits and vegetables and our livers can convert it into vitamin A as needed.

One good way to tell if a fruit or vegetable contains beta-carotene is by its color. Beta-carotene acts as a plant pigment that puts the orange hue into fruits and vegetables. So carrots, summer squash, sweet potatoes, mangoes and Cantaloupe melons are all great sources of beta-carotene. The deeper the orange coloring of a fruit or vegetable the more beta-carotene it will contain. For that reason, carrots are the best known food source of beta-carotene and especially carrot juice. A juicing machine will break open the tough fibers of carrots and release more of the beta-carotene from the fibers for us to digest. So carrot juice is a better source of beta-carotene than actually eating carrots. Another little tip is that more beta-carotene is digested when it is accompanied by fat or oil. Adding a little olive oil to your carrot juicing recipes will therefore improve the bio-availability of beta-carotene.

There are green colored vegetables that are a great source of beta-carotene too. Kale, spinach and broccoli are prime examples. It is just that the chlorophyll (a plant pigment that produces the color green) content of kale, spinach and broccoli out ways the beta-carotene content.

Beta-Carotene/Vitamin A rich Juicer Recipes

Beta-carotene Juicing Recipe #1 – Simply Carrot!
8 large carrots

Directions: Wash and top carrots, but only peel them if they are not organic

Beta-Carotene Juicing Recipe #2 – Mango Magic
3 medium sized mangoes

Directions: Peel mangoes and remove stone and your good to go. Mango juice is heaven.

Beta-Carotene Juicing recipe #3 – M & M’s
2 medium sized mangoes
2 cups of cantaloupe melon

Directions: Peel mangoes and remove stone and use only the flesh of the cantaloupe melon.

Beta-Carotene Juicing Recipe #4 – Going Green
6 large carrots
handful of kale
Handful of spinach

Directions: Wash all ingredients through and top carrots.

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