if you eat too much carrot will you turn orange?

Question

if no or yes explain why

Answer 1

The answer to this question depends on the colorful food that you eat. The example you mention, carrots, is one of the many cases where it is true; you will turn a bit orange. Carrots are orange because they have lots of a colored biochemical (a "pigment") called, cleverly enough, carotene. Pure carotene has a deep orange color. It dissolves in oil but not in water, and it is stored in body fat. Carotene also absorbs ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun that can damage body tissues such as skin. The skin of people who intentionally consume pure carotene does change color, but just a little. They don't look like walking carrots, but rather the overall change in the color of their skin is measured by a device that measures the amount of each color of the rainbow that the skin reflects.

Many of the red, orange, and yellow pigments in colorful foods act in similar ways to carotene. Another example is the red color in ketchup, called lycopene. Some deeply green foods, like spinach and broccoli, have several colors including carotene. People who consume colorful foods, which are rich in these compounds, tend to have skin that is slightly less sensitive to the sun, though no one should stay in the sun too long just because they ate a big bag of fries with ketchup.


To Dior Junkie who took offense to my answer - Despite the fact that I did know that the answer to her question was 'yes', I was trying to be more helpful than simply answering, "because of the carotene".

Answer 2

OMG yes yes yes, my friend who is very light complexted went on a carrot diet, and all she ate for 3 weeks were carrots and carrot juice, and she actually started getting an odd orange tint to her skin, it was really weird. But the tint went away after about a week after she started eating normally.

Answer 3

I saw a show where this question arose. The presenter ate 1 kilogram of carrots (including as juice) per day for two weeks. He did change colour, slightly. If the same amount of carotene were taken as a tablet, it may have become toxic. However, in its original form, it metabolises better. As another answer correctly states, carotene is a fat soluble vitamin, so will reside in the fat layers in the skin.

Answer 4

Alex gets a gold star for copying and pasting! The answer is yes without looking it up on the internet. The reason behind it is because of the carotene.

Answer 5

Funny you should ask that... they had an episode on "House" awhile back about that. The guy ate carrots and tomatoes and turned reddish orange if I remember correctly. I guess if you eat it excessively it could change your pigment.

Answer 6

Not really. You'll just end up dropping little bunny pellets each time you go potty.

Answer 7

Yes I have heard of this, but i dont know why it is true.