Carrot
Carrots are full of vitamins, minerals, and fibers that are good for your health. But eating too many carrots can bring in too much beta-carotene the molecule responsible for carrots' bright orange hue and a precursor of vitamin A. This situation can lead to excess blood carotene which can discolor the skin.
Known as carotenemia, the condition occurs because carotene is a fat-soluble molecule. Excessive quantities of it tend to accumulate in the outermost layer of skin, resulting in yellow- or orange-pigmented skin, particularly in the palms, soles, knees, and nasal area.
Although carotenemia occurs mostly in infants when they are fed too much-pureed carrots, it can occur in adults as well. In a case report published in The Journal of Dermatology in 2006, a 66-year-old woman's skin turned yellow-orange after she took too many carotene oral supplements. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Database, one cup of raw chopped carrots has about 15 mg of carotene. Therefore, you would need to eat half a cup of chopped carrots every day for months to turn to her shade of yellow. Despite such dramatic outward appearance, carotenemia is a mostly harmless condition and is often reversible.
Known as carotenemia, the condition occurs because carotene is a fat-soluble molecule. Excessive quantities of it tend to accumulate in the outermost layer of skin, resulting in yellow- or orange-pigmented skin, particularly in the palms, soles, knees, and nasal area.
Although carotenemia occurs mostly in infants when they are fed too much-pureed carrots, it can occur in adults as well. In a case report published in The Journal of Dermatology in 2006, a 66-year-old woman's skin turned yellow-orange after she took too many carotene oral supplements. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Database, one cup of raw chopped carrots has about 15 mg of carotene. Therefore, you would need to eat half a cup of chopped carrots every day for months to turn to her shade of yellow. Despite such dramatic outward appearance, carotenemia is a mostly harmless condition and is often reversible.
