PhD student Charles Ojobor, from the Human Nutrition and Exercise Research Centre at Newcastle University, led the study. He said: “Many researchers have noticed the benefits of carrots previously, and this is a reason why there was so much data for us to analyse. “However, most of the previous studies focused on beta-carotene, one of the orange carotenoid phytochemicals, which give the orange carrots their colour. “Unfortunately, beta-carotene did not show much beneficial effect on cancer in controlled experiments. “As a result, we studied carrots due to their content of a different type of phytochemicals, polyacetylenes, which are colourless but have strong effects on cancer. “For our study, we looked at different types of cancer and our analysis showed that people who eat five portions of carrots per week had a 20% reduced risk of developing the disease.”
