Woman Turns Orange After Eating Carrots Every Day For 3 Months To Lose Weight
She said she ate about 200g to 500g of carrots a day.
By May Vin Ang — 01 Nov 2023, 12:27 PM
A woman in China experienced an unusual side effect where her skin turned orange after eating carrots every day for three months in order to lose weight
The woman from Beijing, whose surname is Wang, shared in a video on Chinese social media platform Weibo that, since July, she ate about 200g to 500g of carrots a day as a substitute for junk food.
Occasionally, she would also coat the carrots in turmeric powder and stir-fry them to snack on.
However, on China's National Day on 1 October, she realised that her complexion had turned a shade of orange
"I looked into the mirror and was shocked to see that my face was exceptionally orange.
“When I told my friends, they immediately came over to check on the colour of my face and told me to quickly go to the hospital," she said.
The woman also shared photos of her palm compared to her friend's to show the difference in the colour of their skin.
Fortunately, the doctor told Wang that her skin was probably just stained from eating too many carrots, a harmless phenomenon called carotenemia
"At first I didn't believe it, so I asked the doctor to check my liver function," said Wang, who was fearful of jaundice, a common symptom of liver failure which also turns the skin a shade of yellow.
However, lab tests found there was nothing wrong with her liver.
She was advised by her doctor to drink a lot of water and to avoid eating orange-coloured foods for awhile, so that it would fade in about two months.
According to the National Library of Medicine, carotenemia is the medical terminology describing yellow-orange skin pigmentation due to high carotene levels in the blood.
It is caused by excessive consumption of fruits and vegetables high in carotene content, which also gives them their orange colour, such as carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, mangoes, oranges, papayas, and many more.
In general, the more intense the colour of the fruit or vegetable, the more carotene it has. Turmeric is also high in carotene.
