Carrots vs sweet potato: similar beta-carotene, very different calories

The biggest measured effect on this page concerns what you eat with the carrot. In a randomized crossover study of 12 healthy adults, raw carrots eaten with avocado, which added 23 g of fat, gave 6.6 times more beta-carotene absorption and 12.6 times more conversion to vitamin A than the carrots alone. That was one meal in a small group, with avocado the only fat tested, and we found no such test for sweet potato. On paper the two are close. Per 100 g the US dietary survey database gives 7338 micrograms of beta-carotene in raw carrot and 7997 in sweet potato, and 762 against 684 micrograms RAE of vitamin A. Energy is where they part: 44 calories and 9.68 g carbohydrate for carrot, 115 calories and 17.14 g for sweet potato. The carrot figures are raw and the sweet potato entry is cooked, so the comparison is between two states as people usually eat them.

What a real portion looks like

• A regular carrot weighs 2.1 oz (60 g) and a medium sweet potato 150 g in the US dietary survey database, so a typical piece gives about 457 ug RAE vitamin A from carrot and about 1026 ug RAE from sweet potato. — household measures in FNDDS 2021-2023 Evidence E source
  Regular carrot 60 g, about 26 calories, 457 ug RAE; medium sweet potato 150 g, about 173 calories, 1026 ug RAE

What your body absorbs

• Eating raw carrots with avocado, which added 23 g of fat, raised beta-carotene absorption 6.6-fold and conversion to vitamin A 12.6-fold in a randomized crossover study of 12 adults. — 12 healthy men and women, raw carrots delivering 27.3 mg beta-carotene and 18.7 mg alpha-carotene, with or without avocado, blood sampled over 12 h (n = 12) Evidence B source
  Beta-carotene absorption x6.6, alpha-carotene x4.8 (P < 0.0001), conversion to vitamin A x12.6 (P = 0.0013)
• Beta-carotene from raw carrots was about three times less bioavailable than from papaya in a randomized crossover study of 16 adults, and no better than from tomatoes. — 16 healthy participants, test meals of raw carrots, tomatoes and papayas adjusted to equal beta-carotene and lycopene, followed 9.5 h (n = 16) Evidence B source
  Beta-carotene bioavailability from papaya about 3 times that from carrots; carrots vs tomatoes not significantly different

What cooking and storage change

• Boiling root vegetables in a little water and draining keeps about 70% of vitamin C and folate and 90% of potassium by the USDA retention table, which gives no factor for vitamin A or carotenoids for this method. — Vegetables and Vegetable Products group, roots, boiled, drained, little water (USDA R6 code 3454) Evidence E source
  Retained: vitamin C 70%, folate 70%, thiamin 85%, potassium 90%, vitamin B6 95%

What it does to your health

• Observational data link higher carrot intake with 10% lower cancer incidence across 50 prospective studies with 52,000 cases. — 50 prospective observational studies with 52000 cancer cases recording carrot intake (n = 52000 cases) Evidence C source
  RR 0.90 (95% CI 0.87-0.94) highest vs lowest carrot intake; dose-response significant

Safety, limits and interactions

• Carrot is a frequent cause of food allergy in Europe, and in 49 carrot-allergic patients the main allergen differed by region: Dau c 1 in Switzerland and Denmark, profilin Dau c 4 in Spain. — 49 carrot allergic patients, 71 pollen allergic carrot-tolerant patients and 63 nonatopic controls in Spain, Switzerland and Denmark (n = 183) Evidence C source
  Carrot extract test sensitivity 82%, 90% with recombinant allergens; 34% of pollen-allergic controls had IgE to carrot extract
• According to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, beta-carotene, the form of vitamin A in carrots and orange sweet potato, is not known to cause birth defects, and its most common effect in excess is harmless yellow-orange skin. — general population Evidence E source
  No known teratogenicity; carotenodermia reversible after stopping

What people believe that the data does not support

• Per 100 g, raw carrots carry 44 calories and 9.68 g carbohydrate against 115 calories and 17.14 g for sweet potato as usually eaten, while beta-carotene is similar (7338 vs 7997 ug) and carrots give slightly more vitamin A (762 vs 684 ug RAE). — Carrots, raw (FNDDS 73101010) and Sweet potato, NFS (FNDDS 73401000), FNDDS 2021-2023 Evidence E source
  Energy 44 vs 115 calories; carbohydrate 9.68 vs 17.14 g; fiber 2.9 vs 3.0 g; beta-carotene 7338 vs 7997 ug; vitamin A 762 vs 684 ug RAE; potassium 258 vs 481 mg

Who this works differently for

• A randomized effectiveness study in rural Mozambique found that promoting orange sweet potato raised vitamin A intake by 254 to 492 ug RAE a day in young children and women, and the crop supplied 80% of children's vitamin A. — children 6-35 months and 3-5.5 years and women in rural sweet potato-growing communities of Mozambique Evidence B source
  Net vitamin A intake +263, +254 and +492 ug RAE/d in younger children, older children and women; orange sweet potato 80% of total vitamin A in reference children

The bottom line

Portions shift the picture. A regular 60 g carrot works out at about 457 micrograms RAE and a medium 150 g sweet potato at about 1026, with about 26 calories in the carrot and 173 in the sweet potato, all calculated from the 100 g values. Raw carrot is a modest source of usable beta-carotene. In a randomized crossover study of 16 healthy adults, papaya delivered about three times more than raw carrots matched for the same dose, and carrots did no better than tomatoes. Cooking and chopping were not tested there. For boiled roots drained from a little water, the USDA retention table keeps about 70 percent of vitamin C and folate and 90 percent of potassium, a group factor from a table dated to 1975 that gives no figure for carotenoids. Orange sweet potato has shown what it can do where vitamin A is short. In a randomized effectiveness study in rural Mozambique, promoting the crop raised vitamin A intake by 263 micrograms RAE a day in younger children and 492 in women, and it supplied 80 percent of the vitamin A in reference children. The study measured intake and did not test vitamin A status, and its abstract gives no sample size. Observational data link the highest carrot intake with 10 percent lower cancer incidence (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.94) across 50 prospective studies with 52,000 cases, an association open to confounding. We found no comparable analysis for sweet potato. The real caution is carrot allergy. Carrot is a frequent cause of food allergy in Europe, and in 49 allergic patients the main allergen differed by country, Dau c 1 in Switzerland and Denmark and the profilin Dau c 4 in Spain. That was a diagnostic study, so it says nothing about how common the allergy is, and we found no card on sweet potato allergy. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements says beta-carotene is not known to cause birth defects, and that the most common result of long-term excess is carotenodermia, a harmless yellow-orange tint to the skin.

Sources

1. cxs-r6-08 · reference dataset
   Carrots, raw: 1 regular carrot 60 g, 1 baby carrot 10 g, 1 cup 120 g | Sweet potato, NFS: 1 small 80 g, 1 medium 150 g, 1 large 235 g, 1 cup mashed 250 g
   USDA FNDDS 2021-2023, household measures, codes 73101010 and 73401000 · checked 2026-09-29
2. cxs-r6-01 · randomized crossover trial
   In study 2, the source of provitamin A carotenoids was raw carrots (delivering 27.3 mg of β-carotene and 18.7 mg of α-carotene). ... In study 2, the absorption of β-carotene and α-carotene increased by 6.6- and 4.8-fold, respectively (P < 0.0001 for both). Most notably, consumption of avocado enhanced the efficiency of conversion to vitamin A (as measured by retinyl esters) by 4.6-fold in study 1 (P < 0.0001) and 12.6-fold in study 2 (P = 0.0013).
   J Nutr, 2014 · checked 2026-09-29
3. cxs-r6-02 · randomized crossover trial
   A total of sixteen participants were recruited for a randomised cross-over study. Test meals containing raw carrots, tomatoes and papayas were adjusted to deliver an equal amount of β-carotene and lycopene. ... The bioavailability of β-carotene from papayas was approximately three times higher than that from carrots and tomatoes, whereas differences in the bioavailability of β-carotene from carrots and tomatoes were insignificant.
   Br J Nutr, 2014 · checked 2026-09-29
4. cxs-r6-09 · reference dataset
   USDA-RETN-R6:3454 VEG,ROOTS,ETC,BLD,DRAIND,LITTLE WTR - vitamin_c_mg 70% - folate_total_ug 70% - thiamin_mg 85% - potassium_mg 90% - vitamin_b6_mg 95%
   USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6 (2007), code 3454 · checked 2026-09-29
5. cxs-r6-04 · meta-analysis of cohort studies
   Of 198 observational studies, in 50 prospective studies with 52000 cases recording carrot intake, the cancer-risk was substantially reduced (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.87-0.94, p ˂ 0·00004).
   Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 2025 · checked 2026-09-29
6. cxs-r6-05 · diagnostic study
   Carrot is a frequent cause of food allergy in Europe. ... The Dau c 1 isoforms were major allergens for Swiss and Danish carrot allergic patients, the profilin rDau c 4 for the Spanish patients.
   Allergy, 2012 · checked 2026-09-29
7. cxs-r6-06 · fact sheet
   Unlike preformed vitamin A, beta-carotene is not known to be teratogenic or lead to reproductive toxicity [1]. The most common effect of long-term, excess beta-carotene is carotenodermia, a harmless condition in which the skin becomes yellow-orange [3].
   NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Vitamin A Fact Sheet for Health Professionals · checked 2026-09-29
8. cxs-r6-07 · reference dataset
   Carrots, raw (fdc 2709660): Energy 44 KCAL, Carbohydrate 9.68 G, Fiber 2.9 G, Carotene beta 7338 UG, Vitamin A RAE 762 UG, Potassium 258 MG | Sweet potato, NFS (fdc 2709697): Energy 115 KCAL, Carbohydrate 17.14 G, Fiber 3 G, Carotene beta 7997 UG, Vitamin A RAE 684 UG, Potassium 481 MG, per 100 g
   USDA FNDDS 2021-2023, Carrots raw 73101010 and Sweet potato NFS 73401000 · checked 2026-09-29
9. cxs-r6-03 · randomized effectiveness trial
   The intervention resulted in significant net increases in OSP intakes (model 1: 46, 48 and 97 g/d) and vitamin A intakes (model 1: 263, 254 and 492 μg retinol activity equivalents/d) among the younger children, older children and women, respectively. OSP accounted for 47-60 % of all sweet potato consumed and, among reference children, provided 80 % of total vitamin A intakes.
   Br J Nutr, 2012 · checked 2026-09-29