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 of tetraterpene plant pigments; they vary in colour from yellow, through orange to red, this colour originating in a chain of alternating single and double bonds.
  • noun organic chemistry Specifically, a number of isomers of tetraterpene hydrocarbons, C40H56, (especially beta-carotene), present in carrots etc, which are converted into vitamin A in the liver.

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

[German Karotin, from Latin carōta, carrot; see carrot.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From car(r)ot +‎ -ene.

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Examples

  • They therefore proposed that carotene is a provitamin, an immediate precursor to

    Richard Kuhn and the Chemical Institute: Double Bonds and Biological Mechanisms 2010

  • A: Flamingos are pink thanks to their diet, which is high in carotene, a natural food color found in carrots.

    Usefully Useless Trivia 2002

  • 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.

    Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1938 - Presentation Speech 1966

  • 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

  • Sharon fruit is rich in beta carotene, which is a precursor to vitamin A. Spinach is very rich in iron.

    Drink and get more energy. 2009

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • "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

Comments

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  • carotene supplementation is not recommended because it prevents the uptake of other beneficial carotenoids e.g. lutein and zeanxanthin

    February 11, 2014