Category: vitamin
Aliases: Alpha-carotene, Carotene, alpha
A provitamin-A carotenoid found with β-carotene in carrots, squash and pumpkin. Cleaved by β-carotene oxygenase to retinal but yields roughly half the vitamin-A activity of β-carotene (one β-ionone ring). Higher serum α-carotene tracks with lower all-cause mortality in cohort data.