Carrots are a good source of beta-carotene, which is a fundamental source of vitamin A, responsible for helping to reduce bad cholesterol. But to get all the health benefits of this superfood, an active enzyme is needed to produce this vitamin, according to a study from the University of Illinois (United States). Carrots are also allowed anywhere and have a variety of benefits.
Up to 50 percent of the population has the less active variant of this enzyme, according to these scientists. This means that their body is slower to produce vitamin A from a plant source, and they may need to get this nutrient directly from an animal source like milk or cheese.For example.
Understanding how this enzyme is related to cholesterol has important implications. Typically, high levels of beta-carotene in the blood are associated with health benefits. But it could also be a sign of a less active enzyme that isn’t converting the beta-carotene we eat into vitamin A.
Beta-carotene is the bioactive compound that gives carrots their orange color.. Studies with humans and mice show that lThe conversion of beta-carotene into vitamin A reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol in the blood. Therefore, it can help protect against the development of atherosclerosis, which leads to the buildup of fats and cholesterol in our arteries.
In their work, published in the Journal of Lipid Research, the researchers conducted two studies to better understand the effects of beta-carotene on cardiovascular health. They confirmed its importance, but identified a critical step in the process.
Beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A with the help of an enzyme called beta-carotene oxygenase. 1 (BCO1). A genetic variation determines whether you have a more or less active version of BCO1. People with a less active enzyme may need other sources of vitamin A in their diet-
The researchers analyzed blood and DNA samples from 767 healthy young adults ages 18 to 25. As expected, the researchers found a correlation between BCO1 activity and ‘bad’ cholesterol level.
“People who had a genetic variant associated with making the BCO1 enzyme more active had lower blood cholesterol. That was our first observation.” explains the study leader, Jaume Amengual. To follow up on these findings, they conducted a second study using mice.
“In the human study, we saw that cholesterol was higher in people who don’t make a lot of vitamin A. To know if that observation has a long-term effect, we would have to wait 70 years to see if they develop cardiovascularly. In real life, that is not possible. That’s why we use animals for certain studies, to be able to speed up the process,” he explains.
The main findings of the mouse study replicate what they found in humans. “We saw that when we give mice beta-carotene, they have lower cholesterol levels. These mice develop smaller atherosclerotic lesions, or plaques, in your arteries. This means that mice fed beta-carotene are more protected against atherosclerosis than those fed a diet without this bioactive compound,” says Amengual.
In their second investigation, the researchers also studied the biochemical pathways of these processes, determining where in the body the effect occurs. “We narrowed it down to the liver as the organ responsible for producing and secreting lipoproteins into the bloodstream, including lipoproteins known as bad cholesterol. We observed that in mice with high levels of vitamin A, the secretion of lipids into the bloodstream slows down,” he says. amengual.