Best Beta-Carotene Supplements 2026: Cost per Effective Dose
Top pick for Beta-Carotene: NOW Foods Natural Beta Carotene 25,000 IU — 15mg beta-carotene per 1 softgel, None stated, $0.12/day.
Registry check · Beta-Carotene
Does anyone independently verify Beta-Carotene supplements?
We could not confirm a single one of these 4 products in any registry, and none of them claims otherwise. Not one brand here displays a certification mark, so on independent verification all 4 start level.
4 checked against all 5,317 US NSF, USP and Informed Sport listings, 2026-08-25. Full method and limitations.
What 4 Beta-Carotene labels show
Priced per day, these beta-carotene products run $0.12 to $1.22 — a 10× gap between the cheapest and dearest beta-carotene here, across 4 brands.
Servings here are close enough to compare directly, so the gap is a real one: NOW Foods at $0.12 buys the same thing as Karuna at $1.22.
All Beta-Carotene Supplements Compared
⚠ This is the rare supplement with a well-documented population that should avoid it: two large trials, ATBC and CARET, found higher lung cancer incidence among smokers and asbestos-exposed workers taking high-dose beta-carotene. If you smoke or have smoked, take vitamin A activity from food or a mixed-carotenoid multivitamin instead. For everyone else, mixed carotenoid products more closely resemble dietary intake than isolated synthetic beta-carotene.
| Product | Brand | Dose / Serving | Cost / Day | Certification (as labelled) | Pick | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOW Foods Natural Beta Carotene 25,000 IU | NOW Foods | 15mg beta-carotene / 1 softgel | $0.12 | None stated | Buy | |
| Pure Encapsulations Beta Carotene (with Mixed Carotenoids) 25,000 IU | Pure Encapsulations | 15mg beta-carotene / 1 softgel capsule | $0.41 | Hypoallergenic, NSF-audited GMP | Buy | |
| Country Life Carotenoid Complex | Country Life | mg carotenoid blend (not disclosed) / 1 softgel | $0.46 | None stated | Buy | |
| Karuna Mixed Carotenoids | Karuna | 7.75mg disclosed carotenoids (lutein+lycopene+zeaxanthin+cryptoxanthin; beta-carotene amount not disclosed) / 1 vegetarian capsule | $1.22 | None stated | Buy |
In-Depth Beta-Carotene Guides
Go deeper on beta-carotene — by goal, by form, and what the evidence actually supports:
Our Picks
Lowest Cost: NOW Foods Natural Beta Carotene 25,000 IU
15mg beta-carotene per 1 softgel. None stated. $0.12/day. 180 servings per container at $21.94.
The shelf · Beta-Carotene
Pack sizes differ 6×, so the shelf price tells you very little
Karuna Mixed Carotenoids holds 30 servings and NOW Foods Natural Beta Carotene 25,000 IU holds 180 — the same shelf price buys 6× more of one than the other, which is why all 4 rows above are priced per day. On that basis NOW Foods Natural Beta Carotene 25,000 IU is the cheapest at 12¢ and Karuna Mixed Carotenoids the dearest at $1.22.
Method: the 4 Beta-Carotene products above, compared on label facts — serving size, servings per container, form, price. Not a dosing recommendation.
The evidence · Beta-Carotene
What the published reviews of Beta-Carotene concluded
- The effects of β-carotene on osteoporosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. · Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA, 2023
“β-carotene may improve BMD and reduce the risk of osteoporosis and fracture. However, these effects could vary by gender and race and need to be further validated by longitudinal studies.”
- Effects of β-carotene intake on the risk of fracture: a Bayesian meta-analysis. · BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2020
“The present meta-analysis suggests that β-carotene intake was inversely associated with fracture risk, which was consistently observed for case-control and cohort studies. Randomized controlled trials are warranted to confirm this relationship.”
- Vitamin A and beta (β)-carotene supplementation for cystic fibrosis. · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 2018
“Since no randomised or quasi-randomised controlled studies on retinoid supplementation were identified, no conclusion on the supplementation of vitamin A in people with CF can be drawn.”
- Dietary and circulating vitamin C, vitamin E, β-carotene and risk of total cardiovascular mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective observational studies. · Public health nutrition, 2019
“The present meta-analysis demonstrates that higher vitamin C intake and higher circulating concentrations of vitamin C, vitamin E and β-carotene are associated with a lower risk of CVD mortality.”
Method: PubMed searched in humans for systematic reviews and meta-analyses with Beta-Carotene in the title; these 4 of the 7 that qualified are shown with the authors’ own conclusion quoted rather than summarised. What it cannot tell you: whether Beta-Carotene will work for you — each of these reports an average across trials published 2018–2023, and null findings are shown here as readily as positive ones.
How these 4 Beta-Carotene products were ranked
Not one of these 4 beta-carotene products could be confirmed in the NSF, USP or Informed Sport registries, so verification separates none of them and the ranking falls to cost per day at the labelled serving. Commission does not enter it: the rate is the same whichever beta-carotene you buy. Full methodology.