The Study
Comparative bioavailability of β-carotene from raw carrots and fresh carrot juice in humans: a crossover study
This study is like a fair race between raw carrots and carrot juice to see which one gets more beta-carotene into your blood. Because people were randomly assigned and tested fairly, we can say juice wins at delivering beta-carotene—this is strong proof for that specific result.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
This study checks if drinking carrot juice helps your body absorb more of a healthy nutrient called beta-carotene than eating raw carrots.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 548 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes, the result is meaningful because breaking down carrots into juice helps your body use more of the good stuff, even if you eat more volume.
- 2Kids drank carrot juice or ate raw carrots with oil.
- 3The juice gave 2.3 times more beta-carotene in the blood at peak and 2.1 times more overall, even though both had the same amount of beta-carotene.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Nutrition Research and Practice
Year
2024
Authors
Mi-Ju Choi, Juha Baek, Eunju Park
Related Content
Claims (4)
If healthy young adults eat raw carrots or drink carrot juice with a bit of oil, it boosts their body's β-carotene levels a lot—but that doesn’t actually improve their overall antioxidant power in the blood over the next day.
Drinking carrot juice helps your body absorb more beta-carotene than eating raw carrots. This happens because juicing breaks down the carrot's structure, making it easier for your body to soak up the nutrients.
Juicing carrots might help your body absorb more of the good stuff (like vitamin A) even though the juice has less of it per bite — you just need to drink more of it to get the same amount you'd get from eating whole carrots.
If young, healthy adults eat raw carrots or drink fresh carrot juice with a little canola oil, their bodies absorb the beta-carotene quickly—peaking in the blood in just 1.5 hours—and it’s all cleared out within 24 hours.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.