Colorful New Carrots Engineered

If you ever thought carrots were boring, check out their new palette.

Researchers with the federal Agricultural Research Service are breeding purple, yellow, dark orange and bright red carrots.

The scientists are also touting potential health benefits.

Xanthophylls give the yellow carrots their golden hues and have been linked with good eye health. Red carrots contain lycopene, a type of carotene also found in tomatoes that's believed to guard against heart disease and some cancers.

Purple carrots owe their color to anthocyanins, which are pigments and also antioxidants that can guard the body's cells against destructive effects of unstable molecules known as free radicals.

The colorful carrots have not yet caught on with growers, according to a recent statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

-- LiveScience Staff

Credit: USDA/Stephen Ausmus