A simple postharvest wounding biofortifies carrots and improves metabolic homeostasis in diet-induced obese rats

Mechanical wounding activates plant defense metabolism and can increase phenolic accumulation in vegetables, offering a simple route to whole-food biofortification. Here, we tested whether postharvest wounding, achieved by shredding carrots and storing them at 15 °C for 48 h, biofortifies carrots and improves metabolic outcomes in diet-induced obese rats. Wounding-stressed carrots accumulated markedly higher total phenolics, including chlorogenic acid, and retained this enriched profile during the intervention. In hypercaloric diet-fed Wistar rats, daily intake of wounding-stressed carrots attenuated body weight gain, reduced visceral adiposity and adipocyte hypertrophy, improved glucose and insulin tolerance, and ameliorated dyslipidemia without reducing food intake. These effects were accompanied by increased fecal lipid excretion, higher adiponectin, lower leptin, TNF-α and IL-1β, and increased UCP1-associated remodeling in white adipose tissue. These findings support postharvest wounding as a practical, consumer-implementable whole-food biofortification strategy and provide a preclinical rationale for future clinical studies using feasible carrot servings ( ~ 50 g/day).