Do carrots cause constipation

Answer 1

The answer is not quite a yes or no, there are factors involved.

The short answer:

Carrots + a healthy intake of water should not cause constipation

Carrots + a low intake of water, may cause constipation

The long answer:

First off you need to understand that the lower intestines job is to remove liquids from foods. If you have food moving through the intestines too slow, they become dry and hard to move which creates a cycle that repeats until almost nothing is moving (constipation)

Two things help keep the intestines moving at a proper pace: water and fiber

The biggest mistake some people make when trying to increase fiber intake, is not including enough water to along with it.

In some cases, high fiber foods have a reasonable amount of liquid included in contrast to their fiber volume (apples and bananas for example)

In other foods, they may contain good fiber volume, but not as much liquid. Carrots for example contain a good amount of fiber but not enough liquid volume on their own to make it through the intestines without drying out.

Carrots therefore require extra fluid intake to keep them from backfiring and causing constipation instead of preventing it.

A similar problem would result if you were to use powder or pill fiber without enough water intake, the fiber by itself would dry out in the intestine and cause blockage.

So, if you believe carrots are causing you constipation, they probably are, but most likely because you are not taking in enough fluid(water) to take advantage of the fiber they contain.

You would have a similar problem with any fiber source that does not contain high amounts liquid