Gerrard Kaonga
A woman on social media revealed what eating a ridiculous amount of carrots did to her body.
You are what you eat as they say... well, sort of.
A woman on Reddit revealed what happened to her skin after eating carrots everyday and the rumors are basically true.
Her skin started to turn a quite a noticeable shade of orange and people on social media couldn’t really believe it. The condition the woman developed is known as carotenosis or carotenemai and is pretty interesting.
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Earlier this week, Reddit user AhsewkaTano shared a picture of her from December in 2024 when she was consuming carrots everyday and shared a more recent picture after she stopped consuming so many.
In the December picture, she has a noticeable orange tinge, while in the more recent picture her skin has gone back to a normal clear white.
One user joked: “I'm glad you recovered from ate too many carrots disease.”
Another joked: “So I can get my wife to start eating carrots instead of that self tanning stuff?”
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With a third saying: “Hah, that's pretty wild. I get orange-ish palms if I eat too much, but that's as far as it goes.”
Dermatologist Melissa Piliang, MD has previously spoken about the condition and its prevalence.
According to a Cleveland Clinic report, she confirmed: “Eating too many beta-carotene filled foods can turn your skin an orangey color.
“Carotenemia is pretty uncommon, but we probably see one or two cases a year.”
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Dr Piliang has insisted that this can happen to a person in a relatively short amount of time, depending on the amount of carotene they're consuming.
She continued: “You would need to be eating about 20 to 50 milligrams of beta-carotenes per day for a few weeks to raise your levels enough to see skin discoloration.
“One medium carrot has about 4 milligrams of beta-carotene in it. So if you’re eating 10 carrots a day for a few weeks you could develop it.”
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As strange as it might be, carotenemai is not dangerous and treatment simply requires you to reduce the amount of amount of beta-carotene rich foods being consumed. In other words, put down the carrots and opt for something that doesn't turn you orange.
Dr Piliang added: “Little kids may be at higher risk for developing carotenemia because of pureed baby foods like squash and carrots. But there is no risk or danger to having it.”