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Is It Bad if Your Skin Turns Orange from Carrots?

Is It Bad if Your Skin Turns Orange from Carrots

The natural chemical beta-carotene found in carrots, and a few other fruits and vegetables can turn your skin orange if you consume too much of it in a day and over an extended period of time.

When this does occur it’s a condition known as carotenemia.

Other than the physical appearance, here’s whether it’s bad if your skin turns orange from carrots.

It is not bad if your skin turns bad from carrots.

However, it is a sign that you have been consuming a diet that is not very healthy.

Your skin will only turn orange from eating carrots if you consume too many carrots at once and restrict your diet in an unhealthy way.

Today, I will explain more details about how carrots turn your skin orange, and cover if it really does happen, why it happens, how much beta-carotene it takes to develop carotenemia, and how many carrots a day is too much.

Is It True if You Eat Carrots Your Skin Turns Orange?

Is It True if You Eat Carrots Your Skin Turns Orange

First of all, there are a lot of myths out there, so it’s important to see if it’s actually true that carrots can cause your skin to turn orange.

Based on what medical professionals and dermatologists have to say about whether your skin can actually turn orange from carrots.

Your skin can turn orange from eating carrots.

It can also occur if you eat other foods that are high in beta-carotene such as mangoes, apricots, and pumpkin.

It only occurs if you consume too many foods that are high in beta-carotene.

It’s very rare if you consume a normal and balanced diet.

The medical professionals at the Cleveland Clinic (source) state that it’s rare to develop orange skin from carrots.

And if it does develop it will go away on its own after a few months.

The foods that are also high in beta-carotene are generally orange-colored foods and are:

  • Mangoes
  • Oranges
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Yams
  • Cantaloupe (rock melon)
  • Apricots
  • Pumpkin
  • Squash

Each of these different fruits/vegetables contain a different amount of beta-carotene.

And there is a specific amount of beta carotene that will turn your skin orange.

However, it takes a minimum of 2 weeks of eating more than the amount of beta carotene it takes to turn your skin orange.

I will explain the exact amounts of beta-carotene in each further below.

But, first here’s how the amount of beta-carotene in each of these fruits/vegetables compares to the amount of beta-carotene in carrots, ordered from most beta-carotene to the lowest amount of beta-carotene.

Highest beta-carotene fruits/vegetables Amount of beta carotene per 3.4 oz (100g) = half a cup Percent compared to carrots
Sweet potatoes 11.500 mg 287.50%
Pumpkin 2.097 mg 52.43%
Cantaloupe (rock melon) 1.250 mg 31.25%
Apricots 1.149 mg 28.73%
Mangoes 0.550 mg 13.75%
Squash 0.120 mg 3.00%
Oranges 0.087 mg 2.18%
Yams 0.009 mg 0.24%

Interestingly, sweet potatoes contain much more beta carotene than carrots.

And have almost 3 times the amount that carrots have.

This is for the variety of sweet potatoes that are orange on the inside.

Unlike the more common sweet potatoes that have purple skin and yellow flesh.

Carrots contain on average 4 mg of beta carotene per half a cup.

Which makes them rank second on the list of fruits and vegetables that contain the most beta-carotene.

And significantly more than the second-highest – which is pumpkin, which has about half the beta-carotene that carrots have.

Here’s a good video from a doctor where he explains what beta-carotene is and how it affects the body:

Carrots are also very high in vitamin A, which is known to be very good for your skin.

I explained what a good amount of carrots are to consume to improve the appearance of your skin based on the advice of dermatologists in this article about whether carrots make your skin glow.

How Many Carrots until Your Skin Turns Orange?

How Many Carrots until Your Skin Turns Orange

It’s true that your skin can turn orange from eating a lot of carrots.

However, most people eat carrots somewhat regularly and don’t develop orange skin.

So, here’s a summary of how many carrots you need to consume and for how long in order for them to turn your skin orange.

Overall, 4 carrots a day for a minimum of 2 weeks for your skin to turn orange from eating carrots.

The chemical in carrots that turns your skin orange is beta-carotene.

It has been found by medical professionals that you would need to consume 20mg of beta-carotene per day for 2 weeks.

Medical professionals say that you need 20 mg to 50 mg of beta-carotene a day for 2 weeks.

An average carrot contains 4mg of beta-carotene.

I’ve put together a table below that shows how many of the other fruits and vegetables that are high in beta carotene are required to turn your skin orange.

Highest beta-carotene fruits/vegetables Amount of beta carotene per 3.4 oz (100g) = half a cup Amount of individual fruits or vegetables
Sweet potatoes 11.500 mg 1.5
Pumpkin 2.097 mg 1
Cantaloupe (rock melon) 1.250 mg 1
Apricots 1.149 mg 51
Mangoes 0.550 mg 18
Squash 0.120 mg 18.5
Oranges 0.087 mg 163
Yams 0.009 mg 74
Carrots 4 mg 8

As you can see, for some fruits and vegetables it’s almost impossible to eat enough of them to turn your skin orange.

Whereas, others you can come quite close. Some fruits and vegetables are quite large, however.

For example, it would be difficult to eat a whole pumpkin, and possibly a whole cantaloupe.

Based on all of this info the one vegetable to watch out for in particular is the sweet potato variety that has orange flesh.

And you should aim to only consume a maximum of 1.5 of them a day on average.

Any more than this and you are at risk of your skin turning orange.

It takes, however, about 10 average-sized carrots to make one cup of carrot juice.

This means if you consume a cup of carrot juice everyday, it’s possible for your skin to turn orange.

Is 4 Carrots a Day Too Much?

Is 4 Carrots a Day Too Much

1 carrot or so is all that’s needed for a typical meal such as a vegetable stir fry, a salad, or a stew.

But, you may enjoy eating carrots or consuming carrot juice which contains a lot of carrots.

Some of the nutrients found in carrots are in high amounts which can give you too much of them, so this is how many carrots is too much.

As a general rule, 4 carrots a day is not too much.

The maximum amount of carrots you should consume a day is 16 average-sized carrots, or 5 cups of grated carrots.

But, about 8 carrots a day will give you around the level of beta-carotene, which can turn your skin orange.

Therefore, you should not drink more than about a cup of carrot juice, everyday.

If you don’t drink carrot juice everyday, then you can consume a bit more.

This is because the effects of beta-carotene turning your skin orange only occurs if you consume a high amount of beta-carotene everyday.