Sun, Sea and Chantenay: a Natural Remedy for After-Sun Skin Care

June 27, 2013 - PRLog -- Soaking up the sun can leave your skin red and dry and can accelerate the ageing process, leading to wrinkles and ‘sun-spots’. Now, new research has shown that eating just a handful of sweet and crunchy Chantenay carrots every day can help protect our skin and fight the effects of sun damage.

Active ingredients such as Beta-carotene, retinol (Vitamin A) and Vitamins B5, C, E and K are used in after-sun skin treatments, because they have been proven to help prevent sun damage, reduce wrinkles and reverse the aging process.  The very same ingredients are abundant in these small, sweet British-grown carrots.  New research has shown that by eating foods high in these ingredients, your skin accumulates the active agents right where it’s needed to fight the effects of sun exposure and skin-damaging free radicals.  By eating Chantenay carrots, the skin of your whole body gets the benefit, not just the skin you apply the after-sun lotion to.

New research, commissioned by leading Chantenay Carrot growers Freshgro and undertaken by Plant Scientist Dr Hazel MacTavish-West BScAgric PhD MBIAC, shows that eating Chantenay carrots every day ensures your body has loads of the vitamins it needs to repair itself from a day in the sun, especially  the skincare hero beta-carotene.  Our bodies use beta-carotene to make retinol (Vitamin A) – which is far more effective than applying it to your skin from the outside!*  Also, eating foods high in natural carotenoids, like Chantenay carrots, produces far longer lasting antioxidant effects than taking supplements containing natural or synthetic beta-carotene.  There’s no other fruit or vegetable higher in natural vitamin A than carrots; in fact only calf liver contains higher concentrations!

And it gets even better – not just do carotenoids from natural foods like Chantenay carrots help your skin fight sun damage** and reduce the occurrence of non-melanocytic skin cancer***, they also make your skin smoother****!  

Chantenay carrots, like other carrots, contain more vitamin A than any other vegetable or fruit. Just one 80g portion of Chantenay supplies more than the RDA (recommended daily allowance) of vitamin A, and contains more folate than an avocado, an abundant supply of Vitamin C and is an excellent source of Vitamin K.  All these are known active ingredients promoted in numerous skin care products.

Dr MacTavish-West says, “All the evidence indicates that eating Chantenay carrots really can save your skin and your purse.  Chantenay contain everything you need for gorgeous skin everyday, they are readily available all year round at a fraction of the cost of expensive after-sun skin care products.  A handful of sweet, juicy and crunchy Chantenay carrots everyday will help your skin maintain its smoothness and elasticity throughout the summer and beyond.”  

With these natural little beauties you don’t have ‘to go under the knife’, Chantenay carrots need no preparation - no topping, tailing or peeling is necessary - you simply wash and go - the ideal summer vegetable.  There’s no easier way to get your 5-A-Day with hidden beauty benefits and they’re deliciously tasty to boot, eaten raw, cooked, in a dip or simply juiced.

Martin Evans, a Nottinghamshire grower who instigated the Chantenay revival in this country, concluded, “We’ve always known that Chantenay are good for you, but now it’s confirmed that these little carrot dynamos are powerful, not just in taste and convenience, but in health and beauty benefits too.”

Chantenay Carrots are available throughout the year in all good supermarkets priced from as little as 69p per 500g.

For that quick, easy and mess free Chantenay fix, try Chantenay Carrot snack packs, available in Morrisons now, packaged with houmous dip for 85p.

Why not try these two recipes from our website to boost your skin's health?

Chantenay dippers with butterbean, watercress & lemon dip (http://www.chantenay.co.uk/chantenay-dippers-with-butterb...)

Super juice: Chantenay, grapefruit & ginger (http://www.chantenay.co.uk/super-juice-chantenay-grapefru...)

* Jentzsch, V. Andre, P Aiken (all BASF), 2007.  A complete approach to the prevention and treatment of photo-ageing’ cosmetic science technology.

** Eating Chantenay Carrots will not provide protection against the sun

*** Darvin M, Patzelt A, Gehse S, Schanzer S, Benderoth C, Sterry W, Lademann J.Eur J Pharm Biopharm.  2008 Aug;69(3):943-7. Epub 2008 Feb 13. Cutaneous concentration of lycopene correlates significantly with the roughness of the skin.

**** Kune GA, Bannerman S, Field B, Watson LF, Cleland H, Merenstein D, Vitetta L, Nutr Cancer.  1992; 18(3):237-44.  Diet, alcohol, smoking, serum beta-carotene, and vitamin A in male nonmelancytic skin cancer patients and controls.