Shredded in salads and slaws, steamed, or just peeled and dunked in an herb-speckled dip, carrots are versatile veggies that add colorful zest to our dinner plates. These crunchy orange roots are also a well-known source of vitamin A. Just a single, full-size carrot more than fulfills an adult's daily quotient of the essential vitamin.

Have you ever seen a purple carrot? How about white, yellow, or red? Most people haven't, even though such carrots have existed for hundreds of years. You may see them in the future, however. Recent research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that pigments in these colorful carrots, which taste just like regular carrots, may help prevent heart disease and cancer, and reduce cholesterol.

Studies examining the health benefits of fruits and vegetables are revealing the disease-preventive powers of the pigments that give plants their distinctive colors.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The carrot is to return to its roots when it goes on sale in what's said to be its true colour of purple this summer.

Growers say they have dug up the vegetable's original colour and will revert to the new hue this summer for the first time in Europe in five centuries.

Shoppers in the UK will also be able to buy black-and-white as well as previously unseen rainbow-coloured carrots by next year.

Purple carrots, which will retain their orange-coloured centre, will appear on the shelves of Sainsbury's supermarkets at a slightly higher price than the more familiar version.