4. Tomatoes
This healthy food comes in yellow, red, and orange pigments and contains four types of carotenoids that include lycopene, lutein, alpha and beta-carotene. To get all the nutrients inside it, it is recommended that you consume it together with its skin. A cup of canned tomato juice supplies 22% of recommended daily intake of Vitamin A. Furthermore, it has an abundant amount of lycopene, found to have the greatest antioxidant amongst all types of carotenoids. When taken regularly, tomatoes can help your body fight certain cancers, improve your vision, reduce the risk of osteoporosis, lower the risk of heart problem and more.
5. Papaya
There is a new study conducted in British Journal of Nutrition that says the carotenoids in papaya has higher bioavailability compared to tomato or carrot. It was found that its lycopene has about 2.6 times more bioavailable than that of tomatoes and has 3 times bioavailability of beta-carotene compared to carrots. Moreover, Retinyl esters appeared in the TAG-rich lipoprotein (TRL) fractions have a notably greater concentration after an intake of the papaya test meal.
