Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An orange-yellow to red crystalline pigment, C40H56, found in animal tissue and certain plants, such as carrots and squash. It exists in several isomeric forms and is converted to vitamin A in the liver.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun organic chemistry A
class oftetraterpene plant pigments ; they vary incolour fromyellow , throughorange tored , this colouroriginating in achain ofalternating single anddouble bonds . - noun organic chemistry Specifically, a number of
isomers of tetraterpenehydrocarbons , C40H56, (especially beta-carotene), present incarrots etc, which areconverted intovitamin A in theliver .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an orange isomer of an unsaturated hydrocarbon found in many plants; is converted into vitamin A in the liver
- noun yellow or orange-red fat-soluble pigments in plants
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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They therefore proposed that carotene is a provitamin, an immediate precursor to
Richard Kuhn and the Chemical Institute: Double Bonds and Biological Mechanisms 2010
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A: Flamingos are pink thanks to their diet, which is high in carotene, a natural food color found in carrots.
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Rosenheim in London discovered simultaneously and independently of each other the fact that the carotene in carrots consists of two separate components: one of these, b-carotene, rotates the plane of polarized light to the right, while the other, a-carotene is optically inactive.
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And if you cut a carrot crosswise, the slices resemble the human eye, with a pupil, iris and lines radiating outward -- and carrots contain beta-carotene, which is important for eye health.
Lisa Turner: Good Vibrations: Food Energy Beyond Calories 2010
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Sharon fruit is rich in beta carotene, which is a precursor to vitamin A. Spinach is very rich in iron.
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Beta carotene was associated with a 7 percent increased risk; vitamin A, a 16 percent increase, and vitamin E, a 4 percent increase.
Report: Vitamins May Increase Your Risk of Dying | Impact Lab 2007
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Since pumpkin is high in beta carotene and beta carotene is a strong antioxidant, I think this little dessert will be a great addition to Sweetnick's ARF Roundup, taking place tonight.
Archive 2006-10-01 2006
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Many people believe that yellow maize has more protein than white maize, but the only nutritional difference between the two is the presence of Vitamin A in the yellow variety (also called carotene).
Chapter 7 1981
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Now, a deficiency of any of these elements causes a deficiency of specific vitamins in the plants: vitamin C-manganese; vitamin A-- amounts of carotene, which is the basis of vitamin A, decrease when the plant is deficient in sodium.
INAUGURATES VOISIN 1964
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"The idea of the study was trying to identify genes that are associated with increased levels of beta-carotene, which is a provitamin A compound, and that means when humans consume it, the beta-carotene can be metabolized into vitamin A," said Salas-Fernandez.
PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories PhysOrg Team 2010
jwjarvis commented on the word carotene
carotene supplementation is not recommended because it prevents the uptake of other beneficial carotenoids e.g. lutein and zeanxanthin
February 11, 2014