Fast Facts
Some fast facts about carrot juice:
● Carrot juice has low calories but is still rich in a number of essential nutrients like potassium, magnesium, Vitamin C, A, K, and carotenoids.
● Carrots juice is not only good for our skin but also improves immunity, fights cancer, and helps against diabetes, liver diseases, and various heart diseases.
This is how drinking carrot juice is helpful for you. So, let’s discuss in detail the benefits of carrot juice for your skin and how can you utilize the juice in the best way possible.
Nutrients Present in Carrot Juice
When you buy canned juice from outside, they contain a lot of artificial flavors and other ingredients that are not as beneficial as the amount of fresh juice. A glass of fresh carrot juice is a rich source of potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and beta-carotenoids. In addition, you can also find lycopene, another carotenoid in carrots which makes it a powerful antioxidant. The magnesium and iron present in carrot juice gives you enough energy to function well throughout the day.
The carotenoids give the juice its beautiful orange color and the sugars are responsible for its slightly sweet taste.
Benefits of Carrot Juice for Skin
Now, let’s see how all these nutrients work together to provide your skin with great benefits.
Provides Glowing Skin
Being rich in Beta-carotenoids and lycopene, carrots juice act as a powerful antioxidant that protects our skin against any damage and minimizes dark spots. The beta carotenoids and lycopene also give the carrots their orange-red color, hence they also aid our skin in getting a fresh look.
According to research[1], those who eat food rich in carotenoids have healthy skin with a reddish glow.
Hydrates Skin
The most important factor for your skin to look healthy is that you keep it hydrated. Drinking lots of water can help but taking carrot juice can be even more beneficial. Let’s see how.
Heat, environmental exposure, skin diseases, and constant exposure to harsh detergents or soaps make our skin dry due to transepidermal water loss. When you drink the carrot juice or apply it on your skin, it compensates for the water loss. Moreover, the carotene present in carrots improves dry skin conditions.
Slow down the Aging of Skin
Trying so many anti-aging creams but still no effect? They are not only expensive but also full of chemicals. You can save your money and also save yourself from the chemical effects caused by these creams by replacing them with carrot juice.
When the number of free radicals in your body increases due to air pollution, exposure to sun rays, and oxidative stress, it causes wrinkles. The Alpha and beta carotenes along with lycopene and anthocyanins protect your skin against the damage. Additionally, vitamins A, B, and flavone called apigenin [2] enhance collagen production thus reducing wrinkling.
Enhance Permeability Barrier Function
Our skin has a permeability barrier that protects it against microorganisms thus minimizing the risk of infections. With increasing age and continuous exposure to environmental pollutants, this barrier weakens.
When you apply apigenin to your skin [3], it can strengthen this barrier. Carrot juice has this apigenin which means when you apply the juice to your skin, it improves the production of lipids and differentiation of epidermal cells. All these factors improve the normal functioning of the permeability barrier thus protecting our skin against any invasion.
Protects Against Sun
Are you someone who gets exposed to the sun all day long? This exposure can increase the risk of skin cancer, wrinkling, and hyperpigmentation. Along with applying sunscreen, adding carrot juice to your diet can help fight against harmful UV rays.
Being an anti-oxidant, carrots protect you as carotenoids [4] accumulate in your skin barrier and act as a shield from sun rays.
Helpful Against Acne and Blemishes
Carrot juice is a good source of tartaric acid that functions as an exfoliator. In addition, carrots also have anti-inflammatory properties. Being anti-inflammatory as well as an exfoliator, the juice can help your skin against acne.
Moreover, carrot juice also contains chlorogenic acid that has the potential to repress the production of melanin [5]. This means it can reduce the abnormal production of melanin in your body caused by hormonal fluctuations, exposure to the sun, or other skin conditions.
Good for Wound Healing
Vitamin A plays an important role in the healing of your skin after damage [6]. It speeds up the process of re-epithelialization and fibroblast proliferation thus accelerating the healing of wounds.
Furthermore, it increases the production of collagen. Collagen has a chemotactic nature which attracts the fibroblast to the damaged site to restore the epithelial structure and encourages the formation of new blood vessels.
Improves Complexion
As discussed earlier, carrot juice has the ability to prevent wrinkling, provide your skin with a reddish color, and hydrate your skin. All these factors contribute together to give your skin a healthy, natural look. By reducing oxidative stress, it controls hyperpigmentation and dark spots thus maintaining the even tone of your skin.
There are some other fruits that can help with skin whitening. To know those fruits, click Top 10 Fruits for Skin Whitening, You Should Eat .
Treats Oily Skin
If you have oily skin, carrot juice can help you with that too. The vitamin A present in carrots is responsible for reducing the excess sebum in our skin thus preventing the oily nature of our skin.
As there is a decrease in secretions of our sebaceous glands, the oil glands, so there will be reduced clogging of pores which means less risk of acne.
Ways to Use Carrot Juice
There are a number of ways you can use carrot juice to get healthy, glowy skin.
As a Drink
You can simply take the carrot juice as a drink. Just take some carrot, peel them off, make juice, and gulp it. To add more flavor, you can mix orange juice in it. Together they can help in getting you glowing skin, reduce inflammation, and boost your immunity.
Drinking one glass per day is enough for you. It is better to drink the carrot juice on an empty stomach.
Make a Mask
If you cannot get used to the taste of carrot juice, you can mix the juice with some other ingredients to make a mask for you.
What to do: Take 3 tablespoons of carrot juice and mix 1 tablespoon of cucumber paste and sour cream each in it. Leave the mask on for 15 minutes and rinse it. Do it twice a week.
Carrot juice and cucumber improve your skin tone while sour cream can get rid of dead skin cells.
Direct application on Skin
You can even apply only carrot juice on your skin without mixing any other ingredients.
What to do: Make the juice, apply it to your required area, leave it on for some time, and wash the area.
Tip: Using the juice as a mask form can be more beneficial.
If you do not like the juice, the carrot itself can be a lot beneficial for you. To know more, Click The 10 Benefits of Carrot for Skin.
Conclusion
Carrots are rich in a variety of nutrients like vitamins A, C, K, and B, carotenoids, iron, potassium, and zinc. These nutrients improve the production of collagen, reduce oxidative stress, fight against sun rays, improve healing, hydrate your skin, and give it a glowing smooth appearance.
So, give your 5 minutes of daily routine to this delicious carrot juice every morning and enjoy the unlimited benefits. Even if you don’t want to drink the juice, you can use it as a mask to get beautiful and glassy skin.
References
[1] Nancy Shute (2012). The Secret To Glowing (Yellow) Skin? Eat Your Fruits And Veggies, The Salt.
[2] Y. Zhang, J. Wang, X. Cheng, B. Yi, X. Zhang, and Q. Li1 (2015). Apigenin Induces Dermal Collagen Synthesis Via smad2/3 Signaling Pathway, PubMed Central.
[3] Maihua Hou, Richard Sun, Melanie Hupe, Peggy L. Kim, Kyungho Park, Debra Crumrine, Tzu-kai Lin, Juan Luis Santiago, Theodora M. Mauro, Peter M. Elias, and Mao-Qiang Man (2013). Topical Apigenin Improves Epidermal Permeability Barrier Homeostasis in Normal Murine Skin by Divergent Mechanisms, National Library of Medicine.
[4] Anamaria Balić, and Mislav Mokos (2019). Do We Utilize Our Knowledge of the Skin Protective Effects of Carotenoids Enough?, National Library of Medicine.
[5] Hao-Rong Li, Maidina Habasi, Lian-Zhen Xie, Haji Akber Aisa (2014). Effect of chlorogenic acid on melanogenesis of B16 melanoma cells, National Library of Medicine.
[6] Monica E. Polcz MD, Adrian Barbul MD, FACS (2019). The Role of Vitamin A in Wound Healing, Aspen, American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.