List of Alpha Carotene Foods
| Frozen carrots | 5542 |
| Pumpkin | 4795 |
| Raw carrots | 4649 |
| Baby carrots | 4425 |
| Boiled carrots | 4109 |
| Canned carrots | 3470 |
| Butternut squash | 1130 |
| Hubbard squash | 820 |
| Grape leaves, canned | 629 |
| Babyfood squash | 308 |
| Green beans frozen | 292 |
| Fiddle head fern greens | 270 |
| Collards raw | 238 |
| Baked beans | 147 |
| Tomatoes ripe | 112 |
| Collards boiled | 90 |
| Cilantro | 72 |
| Cornmeal | 63 |
| Red pepper | 62 |
| Napa cabbage | 49 |
| Swiss chard | 49 |
| Banana pepper | 39 |
| Passion fruit | 35 |
| Corn canned | 33 |
| Peas frozen | 33 |
| Apples with skin | 30 |
| Tomato paste | 29 |
| Avocados | 28 |
| Cherries raw | 28 |
| Okra | 28 |
| Melon cantaloupe | 27 |
| Pepper green | 22 |
| Corn frozen | 18 |
| Hot pepper | 18 |
| Mangos | 17 |
| Melon crenshaw | 15 |
| Pummelos | 14 |
| Asparagus | 12 |
| Raspberries | 12 |
| Bananas | 5 |
| Strawberries | 5 |
| Orange juice | 2 |
From: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/car98/car_tble.pdfResearchers from the Center for Disease control found that foods that are high in alpha-carotene (AC), may help lower the risk for heart disease and cancer and increase longevity. Supplements are NOT proven to do the same thing so you have to eat your veggies. Here is a list of the most common, heart healthy versions of these items from the USDA (units per 100g of food).Here are 3 things we learned:Vegetable soups that contain carrots are usually high in AC so if you insist on eating out it may be better to choose vegetable soup more often and hamburgers or deli sandwiches less often.Think carrots in the summer and pumpkin or butternut squash in the winter.Not all winter squash is the same - for example, although acorn squash is a powerhouse and contains beta carotene, it is not high in AC. This is also true for sweet potatoes.
