Carrot Juice - Source of Nutrients and Vitamin

Drinks and Health
Carrot juice is one of the richest sources of vitamin A that can be used in the daily diet. It also ranks high as a source of the other vitamins, especially those of the B complex. Its mineral content is equally rich, and includes calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, chlorine, sulfur, and iron.

The vitamin A content of carrot juice helps to strengthen the eyes. In many cases where defective eyesight was noted--as during the war--the condition was overcome by fortifying the diet with fresh carrot juice.

Vitamin A is essential in keeping healthy condition the mucous membranes which line all the cavities of the body. The mucous membrane may be described as consisting of two layers. The top layer, known as epithelium is composed of billions of cells. Close under the epithelium lies the mucous membrane, a thin layer of involuntary muscle fibers., which are extremely pliable and elastic. The vitality of this lining depends upon an adequate supply of vitamin A.

When a deficiency of vitamin A exists the cells harden and degenerate into a horny rough surface, obstructing the normal function of the secretion of the disinfectant mucous. Infections resulting from vitamin A deficiency may affect the bladder or kidneys, the alimentary tract, the mouth, tonsils, sinuses, the tongue, ear canal, eyes or tear ducts.

Vitamin E and Cancer
Another intensely interesting study being made is the relation of vitamin E to the new growth, or division, of cells necessary to keep the tissues in healthy repair. In laboratory tests, when cancer tissue was placed in a vitamin-E-rich blood serum, the cancer tissue did not grow. When a blood serum lacking vitamin E as used in a similar test, the cancer cells divide normally in the presence of vitamin E.

When this vitamin is lacking, healthy cell division does not occur and cancer cells are permitted to grow. Other tests brought out the fact that where experimental animals were fed food rich in vitamin E they resisted cancer, whereas those fed foods lacking this vitamin developed a cancerous condition.
Drinks and Health

Softdrinks and kids

Drinks and health
Here's a big surprise ... the consumption of soft drinks is associated with obesity in children.Now while that fact might not make the earth move for you, what a group of American researchers have done is quantify the effect.

It's important because the numbers of fat children are increasing significantly each year.They followed nearly 600 12-year-olds for a couple of years, monitoring their intake of various foods and their weight and height.

Over two years, there was a 10 per cent increase in the level of fatness of the children - quite dramatic really in a short period.And when they controlled for television viewing (a well-known factor in childhood obesity), physical activity and other dietary factors, soft drinks by themselves added extra risk for obesity.

For every additional glass of sugar-sweetened drink per day, the risk of obesity rose by 60 per cent, and those children with a high intake at the beginning of the study were those at greatest risk.Changing the children over to diet drinks reduced the chances of obesity by over a half.

While the researchers were loathe to firmly say there was a cause-and-effect link here, they did feel that this was a dietary factor which something could be done about fairly easily. And with the booming epidemic in adult diabetes, tied back to childhood obesity, we need to do what we can to keep our kids' weight down without scaring them into anorexia.

Most experts say the best techniques are to increase exercise, reduce television viewing and probably reduce time at computers - and now perhaps replacing sugar-loaded drinks with diet products.
Source: abc.net.au
Drinks and health