Α-Carotene
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Α-Carotene
α-Carotene (''alpha''-carotene) is a form of carotene with a β-ionone ring at one end and an α-ionone ring at the opposite end. It is the second most common form of carotene. Human physiology In American and Chinese adults, the mean concentration of serum α-carotene was 4.71 Î¼g/dL. Including 4.22 Î¼g/dL among men and 5.31 Î¼g/dL among women. * ''Alpha-carotene Linked to Lower Mortality Rates''
, Tufts Health and Nutrition Letter, March 2011


Dietary sources

The following vegetables are rich in alpha-carotene: * Yellow-orange vegetables:

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Carotene
The term carotene (also carotin, from the Latin ''carota'', "carrot") is used for many related unsaturated hydrocarbon substances having the formula C40Hx, which are synthesized by plants but in general cannot be made by animals (with the exception of some aphids and spider mites which acquired the synthesizing genes from fungi). Carotenes are photosynthetic pigments important for photosynthesis. Carotenes contain no oxygen atoms. They absorb ultraviolet, violet, and blue light and scatter orange or red light, and yellow light(in low concentrations). Carotenes are responsible for the orange colour of the carrot, after which this class of chemicals is named, and for the colours of many other fruits, vegetables and fungi (for example, sweet potatoes, chanterelle and orange cantaloupe melon). Carotenes are also responsible for the orange (but not all of the yellow) colours in dry foliage. They also (in lower concentrations) impart the yellow coloration to milk-fat and butter. ...
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Turnip
The turnip or white turnip ('' Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock. The name ''turnip'' used in many regions may also be used to refer to rutabaga (or ''neep'' or ''swede''), which is a different but related vegetable. Etymology The origin of the word ''turnip'' is uncertain, though it is hypothesised that it could be a compound of ''turn'' as in turned/rounded on a lathe and ''neep'', derived from Latin ''napus'', the word for the plant. According to An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, ''turn'' refers to "round ''napus'' to distinguish it from the napi, which were generally long". Description The most common type of turnip is mostly white-skinned, apart from the upper , which protrude above the ground and are purple or red or greenish where the sun has h ...
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Carotenoids
Carotenoids () are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, archaea, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, maize, corn, tomatoes, Domestic Canary, canaries, flamingos, salmon, lobster, shrimp, and daffodils. Over 1,100 identified carotenoids can be further categorized into two classes xanthophylls (which contain oxygen) and carotenes (which are purely hydrocarbons and contain no oxygen). All are derivative (chemistry), derivatives of tetraterpenes, meaning that they are produced from 8 isoprene units and contain 40 carbon atoms. In general, carotenoids absorb wavelengths ranging from 400 to 550 nanometers (violet to green light). This causes the compounds to be deeply colored yellow, orange, or red. Carotenoids are the dominant pigment in autumn leaf coloration of about 15-30% of tree species, but many plant colors, especially reds and purpl ...
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Mortality Rate
Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular Statistical population, population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1,000 individuals per year; thus, a mortality rate of 9.5 (out of 1,000) in a population of 1,000 would mean 9.5 deaths per year in that entire population, or 0.95% out of the total. It is distinct from "morbidity", which is either the prevalence or Incidence (epidemiology), incidence of a disease, and also from the incidence rate (the number of newly appearing cases of the disease per unit of time). An important specific mortality rate measure is the crude death rate, which looks at mortality from all causes in a given time interval for a given population. , for instance, the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA estimates that the crude death rate globally will be 7.7 deaths per 1,000 people in a population p ...
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Blood Test
A blood test is a medical laboratory, laboratory analysis performed on a blood sample that is usually extracted from a vein in the arm using a hypodermic needle, or via fingerprick. Multiple tests for specific blood components, such as a glucose test or a cholesterol test, are often grouped together into one test panel called a blood panel or blood work. Blood tests are often used in health care to determine physiological and biochemical states, such as disease, mineral content, pharmaceutical drug effectiveness, and organ function. Typical medicine#Clinical practice, clinical blood panels include a basic metabolic panel or a complete blood count. Blood tests are also used in drug tests to detect drug abuse. Extraction A venipuncture is useful as it is a Invasiveness of surgical procedures, minimally invasive way to obtain cell (biology), cells and extracellular fluid (blood plasma, plasma) from the body for analysis. Blood flows throughout the body, acting as a medium that prov ...
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Avocado
The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was prized for its large and unusually Avocado oil, oily fruit. The tree likely originated in the highlands bridging south-central Mexico and Guatemala. Avocado trees have a native growth range from Mexico to Costa Rica. Its fruit, sometimes also referred to as an alligator pear or avocado pear, is botanically a large Berry (botany), berry containing a single large seed. Sequencing of its genome showed that the evolution of avocados was shaped by polyploidy events and that commercial varieties have a Hybrid (biology), hybrid origin. Avocado trees are partly Self-pollination, self-pollinating, and are often Plant propagation, propagated through grafting to maintain consistent fruit output. Avocados are presently cultivated in the tropical and Medi ...
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Lettuce
Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiches, wraps and soups; it can also be grilled. Its stem and seeds are sometimes used; celtuce (asparagus lettuce) is one variety grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked. In addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption. Europe and North America originally dominated the market for lettuce, but by the late 20th century the consumption of lettuce had spread throughout the world. , world production of lettuce (and chicory) was 27 million tonnes, 53percent of which came from China. Lettuce was originally farmed by the ancient Egyptians, who transformed it from a plant whose seeds were used to obtain oil into an important food crop raised fo ...
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Collards
Collard is a group of loose-leafed cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'' (the same species as many common vegetables like cabbage and broccoli). Part of the acephala cultivar group (or kale group), collard is also classified as the variety ''B. oleracea'' var. ''viridis''. The plants are grown as a food crop for their large, dark-green, edible leaves, which are cooked and eaten as vegetables. Collard greens have been cultivated as food since classical antiquity. Nomenclature The term '' colewort'' is a medieval term for non-heading brassica crops. The term collard has been used to include many non-heading ''Brassica oleracea'' crops. While American collards are best placed in the ''Viridis'' crop group, the acephala (Greek for 'without a head') cultivar group is also used referring to a lack of close-knit core of leaves (a "head") like cabbage does, making collards more tolerant of high humidity levels and less susceptible to fungal diseases. In Africa, it is known as ...
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Spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed either fresh or after storage, using Food preservation, preservation techniques by canning, Freezing (food), freezing, or Dehydrated food, dehydration. It may be eaten cooked or raw, and the taste differs considerably; the high oxalate content may be reduced by steaming. It is an annual plant (rarely biennial plant, biennial), growing as tall as . Spinach may Overwintering, overwinter in temperate regions. The leaf, leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to triangular, and very variable in size: long and broad, with larger leaves at the base of the plant and small leaves higher on the flowering stem. The flowers are inconspicuous, yellow-green, in diameter, and mature into a small, hard, dry, lumpy fruit cluster across containing several see ...
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Ionone
The ionones, from greek ἴον ion "violet", are a series of closely related chemical substances that are part of a group of compounds known as rose ketones, which also includes damascones and damascenones. Ionones are aroma compounds found in a variety of essential oils, including rose oil. β-Ionone is a significant contributor to the aroma of roses, despite its relatively low concentration, and is an important fragrance chemical used in perfumery. The ionones are derived from the degradation of carotenoids. The combination of α-ionone and β-ionone is characteristic of the scent of violets and used with other components in perfumery and flavouring to recreate their scent. The carotenes α-carotene, β-carotene, γ-carotene, and the xanthophyll β- cryptoxanthin, can all be metabolized to β-ionone, and thus have vitamin A activity because they can be converted by plant-eating animals to retinol and retinal. Carotenoids that do not contain the β-ionone moiety c ...
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Green Pea
Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum'' in 1753 (meaning cultivated pea). Some sources now treat it as ''Lathyrus oleraceus''; however the need and justification for the change is disputed. Each pod contains several seeds (peas), which can have green or yellow cotyledons when mature. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and develop from the ovary of a "pea" flower. The name is also used to describe other edible seeds from the Fabaceae such as the pigeon pea (''Cajanus cajan''), the cowpea (''Vigna unguiculata''), the seeds from several species of ''Lathyrus'' and is used as a compound form - for instance, in Sturt's desert pea. Peas are annual plants, with a life cycle of one year. They are a cool-season crop grown in many parts of the world; planting ...
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