It’s hardly shocking that a raw carrot “salad” is presently popular on TikTok considering the platform has already persuaded users that a drink made of balsamic vinegar, seltzer, and sugar is a healthy substitute for Coke or that low-carb bread can be made with only eggs, sugar, and cornflour. Many people who have shared the recipe claim that all it takes to balance your hormones is to eat raw carrots every day, and that making them into a salad is the best way to achieve it.
Calling this food a salad may seem a bit of a stretch if you’re used to eating salads that are packed with ingredients. Shoma Datta-Thomas, MD, FACOG, tells POPSUGAR that the assertion that it is potent enough to impact your hormone levels is actually a further stretch. The chief wellness officer of Modern Age and an ob/gyn says, “Many aspects need to be taken into account when it comes to balancing hormones.” “To fully resolve an imbalance, a combination of a consistent diet and lifestyle practices is required.”
Raw carrots are not a replacement for medication if you do have a hormone imbalance, according to Dr. Datta-Thomas, an expert in bioidentical hormone therapy. She emphasizes that neither the extreme of eating this salad two to three times per day nor the TikTok viral recipe are supported by any medical research, which would require randomised controlled trials.
But despite the lack of research backing up the TikTok claims, which allegedly originate from a recipe published by biologist Ray Peat, PhD, there are other advantages to eating more carrots. “In general, raw carrots do have the benefits of carotenoids, which are known to have great antioxidant effects, meaning they help repair or prevent the “oxidative stress” or cell damage that can occur from inflammation, disease or environmental exposures,” Dr. Datta-Thomas points out. As for hormone health specifically, carrots only have a positive impact on it because they’re high in fibre, and having a healthy gut can reduce excess estrogen.
A true hormone imbalance requires consultation with a medical professional, Dr. Datta-Thomas says, but if you’re just looking to incorporate more antioxidants and fibre into your diet, there’s no harm in continuing to eat the TikTok salad. It’s a pretty bare bones salad, being that it only consists of one vegetable and a basic vinaigrette, but it’s still a tasty way to consume carrots. Check out the simple recipe below (adapted from the most popular TikTok iterations of what’s supposed to be Dr. Peat’s salad) to learn how to make it.
