Woman Develops a Skin Condition After Eating Carrots Every Day for Months — Then, She Stopped
Too much of anything, even healthy vegetables, can have strange outcomes. Most experts suggest people eat the rainbow, meaning: fill a portion of your plate with different (colored) vegetables, per the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Recently, a woman eating carrots every day of the month shared her subtle transformation after she altered her diet. On Reddit, the woman (u/AhsewkaTano) shared a side-by-side comparison of her skin tone before and after she changed her carrot-loaded diet. The results have sparked a fun debate about carotenosis– a harmless condition causing yellow-orange discoloration of the skin due to excessive intake of carotenoids, as per Ubie Health.
In the post, the woman collated two photos of herself with a distinct shade of skin color in one. She claimed the picture showing her skin in a tint of orange was clicked in December 2024, when she was consuming carrots every day as part of her diet. Whereas, the second one was a recent snap she clicked after she eliminated the particular vegetable from her everyday diet. “Carotenosis before and after. Left was me in December, right is me now after I stopped eating carrots every day,” she captioned the Reddit post.
It is worth noting that her skin tone did appear in orange hues, said to be caused due to carotenosis. However, as soon as she stopped eating carrots, it bounced back to her normal pinkish pale skin in a matter of months. The bizarre side-effect of eating carrots highlighted in the post was voted 89,000 times, with thousands of people sharing their thoughts on the health condition. One person (u/raz-0) related, “My kid went through a phase as a baby where he was only really eating orange things. He started turning orange.” Turns out, there are many people who have had similar experiences with carotenosis.
“Same! My mom noticed I had gone yellowish-orange over time and was freaked out that I had jaundice or something. Doctor was like, ‘Does he eat a lot of carrots?’ Yes, I ate a ton because it was one of, like, four foods I willingly ate as a kid. Mom limited my carrot consumption after that, and I was sad,” a comment by u/sqwrlydoom stated. Someone (u/Beneficial-Ranger166) joked, “I'm glad you recovered from 'ate too many carrots' disease.” In a response to a person (u/gringledoom) asking about the amount of carrots she consumed, the Reddit poster revealed, “I mean... too many, apparently. I used to eat a bowl of cottage cheese with a pile of carrots for lunch because I love them and they're cheap. But now I don't do that so much anymore.”
Vegetables that contain carotenoids include carrots, of course, squash, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach and beans, and breast milk too. In extreme cases, carotenosis may cause diabetes, kidney, thyroid, or liver disease. Dairy products like butter, cheese, and milk also contain carotenoids. Carotenosis is a benign condition, but the normal skin color may take a few months to return due to the accumulation of beta-carotene in tissue, as per a report by DermNet. While carrots are rich in fiber and Vitamin A, senior clinical dietitian Trisha Rosemond advised eating a combination of raw and cooked vegetables.