Should You Drink Carrot Juice Every Day?

Fresh carrot juice has more nutritional value than soft drinks, which get most of their calories from added sugar. The problem with fruit and vegetable juices is that they still add sugar and liquid calories to your diet — and this can result in health problems.

If you're wondering how much carrot juice per day you can drink, 4 ounces seems to be a safe bet, as this amount provides a dose of nutrients without too much sugar, according to the USDA 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

According to the USDA, a 4-ounce serving of carrot juice has:

• ​​Calories​:​ 40
• ​​Total fat​:​ 0 g
  • ​​Saturated fat​:​ 0 g
  • ​​Trans fat​:​ 0 g
• ​​Cholesterol​:​ 0 mg
• ​​Sodium​:​ 80.4 mg
• ​​Total carbs​:​ 8 g
  • ​​Dietary fiber​:​ 0.5 g
  • ​​Sugar​​: 7 g
• ​​Protein​:​ 1 g

It's easy to argue in favor of drinking carrot juice every day, as well as other vegetable and fruit juices. The Harvard School of Public Health places vegetable juice under the category of "caloric-but-nutritious beverages" with others like milk, sports drinks and vitamin-infused waters.

Carrot juice is high in nutrients like vitamin A and potassium. A 4-ounce serving of carrot juice boasts 17,499.6 international units (IU) of vitamin A, which is 583 percent of the recommended Daily Value (DV). Vitamin A is used by the body for immune function, vision, reproduction and cellular communication, per the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The same amount of carrot juice also has 355 milligrams of potassium, which is 8 percent of your DV. Potassium helps with fluid and electrolyte balance, and it's involved in nerve and muscle function, according to Oregon State University. Potassium is considered one of the nutrients of concern by the USDA because most people don't get enough of it, and low levels are associated with conditions like high blood pressure.

While it does have some important nutrients, carrot juice also has naturally occurring sugar, and most of the dietary fiber is removed during juicing.

When you eat whole carrots, the fiber slows the absorption of that sugar into the bloodstream, but drinking carrot juice could result in a spike in blood sugar, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Getting too much sugar in your diet, even if it's from fruit and vegetable sources, can increase your risk of diabetes and obesity, per the Harvard School of Public Health. It is recommended that you stick to 4 ounces of juice per day to avoid high amounts of sugar in your diet.

And if you've ever wondered what happens if you drink too much carrot juice, no — you probably won't turn orange.

It ​is​ possible to get too much vitamin A, but side effects typically occur when you're taking a high-dose supplement, rather than getting the nutrient from food, per the NIH. That being said, your body can likely tolerate taking in high amounts of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in carrot juice — save the sugar.

Contrary to what you might have heard, the nutrients from juices aren't absorbed by your body any better than they are if you ate the whole fruit or vegetable, according to the Mayo Clinic. Whole produce contains fiber, which you need for good digestive health.

Drinking carrot juice and other juices won't remove "toxins" from your liver and kidneys either, per the Mayo Clinic. Electric juicing machines can cost well into the hundreds of dollars — and making juice at home isn't necessarily less expensive than purchasing whole fruits and vegetables.