Falcarinol

Specific molecules

The compound that gives a carrot its bitterness, which the plant makes against soil fungi.

Specific to the carrot family — carrot, parsnip, celery, fennel, parsley — and to no one else.

Effects and benefits

The molecule that makes a carrot slightly bitter is a weapon against soil fungi. In rats, carrots rich in it slowed the appearance of lesions in the colon; in humans, the effect remains to be checked.

Falcarinol is a polyacetylene. The plant makes more of it when stressed or attacked, and it sits mostly in the skin and outer part of the root.

In rats exposed to a substance that causes precancerous lesions of the colon, a diet enriched with carrot or falcarinol reduced their number (Kobaek-Larsen et al., 2005). No human trial has tested it yet.

It also acts on the CB1 receptor, the cannabinoid one, but in the opposite direction: a pharmacological curiosity, with no noticeable effect at the doses of a carrot (Leonti et al., 2010).

Sources: Kobaek-Larsen et al., J Agric Food Chem, 2005 · Leonti et al., Biochem Pharmacol, 2010

Falcarinol

Effects and benefits

Where to find it (4)

Also, in smaller amounts (43)