A WOMAN’S efforts to lose weight by substituting junk food snacks with carrots had a surprising and unwanted side effect. Her skin turned a bright shade of orange!
The Beijing resident known only as Wang had uploaded a video on Weibo showing the change in her complexion. She even places her hand next to a friend’s to emphasise the difference in skin tone with Wang’s having a markedly different and brighter hue.
She recounts that she had gone on a carrot-heavy diet in an effort to shed some pounds. Instead of snacking on unhealthy junk foods, she would munch on carrots. Wang also said she would sometimes fry the carrots in turmeric for a crunchy, delicious snack.
However, when Wang looked in the mirror on Oct 1, she was shocked to see that she had turned bright 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 recounted.
Fearing that she was facing liver failure with jaundice a symptom which also manifests itself with yellow pigmentation, Wang underwent a series of tests at the hospital.
Luckily for her, the doctor said Wang was merely experiencing a harmless phenomenon called carotenemia which was brought about by her excessive consumption of carrots.
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 and papayas, to name a few common vegetables and fruits.
In general, the more intense the colour of the fruit or vegetable, the more carotene it has. Turmeric is also high in carotene.
Since the condition is harmless, Wang may want to reach out to the Netherlands Football Association to be their mascot for the upcoming Euros next year. The Dutch national team are known as ‘The Oranje’ because their orange strip.
Anyone else looking for a change in pigmentation can also try this since it is probably far less harmful than applying various skin colour-changing tonics. Lose weight and change your skin colour – now that’s a winning combination for some of the more vainglorious types! – Nov 3, 2023
