WEBVTT - Can Carrots Really Turn Your Skin Orange? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.360 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:10.240 brain Stuff, Lauren Volga bomb here. If your skin begins 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.240 turning orange, you may feel like the star of a 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:16.680 sci fi flick, but there's most likely a more down 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:21.239 to earth explanation. Red orange and yellow fruits and vegetables 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.119 often get their color from a pigment called beta carotene, 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.080 which our bodies also happen to use to make vitamin A, 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:29.920 which is one of the essential vitamins for human health. 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:32.879 That means it's a vitamin that our bodies need in 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:36.120 order to function properly, but our bodies can't produce it 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:38.839 on their own, but we need to eat particular foods 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.520 to help out. Vitamin A is involved in all sorts 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.800 of important bodily processes. It's a component in one of 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.360 the proteins that make our eyes work. It helps our 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.880 immune system function, and it supports cell growth in organs 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:58.720 like the heart, lungs, and kidneys. Lucky for us, carrots, cantaloupe, apricots, mangoes, oranges, 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:02.800 pumpkin squashs, potatoes, and other red orange foods can be 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.399 chock full of beta carotene, so chuck full, in fact, 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.479 that when eaten in large amounts, they can sometimes cause 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:14.080 people to develop an orange skin tone. What happens here 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.040 is that eating an excessive amount of foods containing beta 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:21.800 carotene can cause an overabundance of this pigment in the bloodstream, 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:23.880 which in turn builds up in the areas of the 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.800 body with thicker skin, hands, knees, elbows, feet, and the 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.960 folds around the nose and produces there a visible orange 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:36.200 ish hue. This is called carotenemia, and while the condition 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:38.679 is more visible on people who have light colored skin, 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.960 people of any skin color can be affected. Carotinemia isn't 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:47.120 terribly common, even for people who are fruit and vegetable enthusiasts. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.560 It's usually the result of a restricted diet that includes 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.920 large quantities of some specific fruit or vegetable that's high 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:58.440 in beta carotene. There are hundreds of different carotenoid pigments 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.240 aside from the common beta variant. They're actually named after 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:06.040 carrots because the researcher who first identified these molecules was 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.519 working with carrot juice. Credit for that goes to German 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.919 pharmacist Heinrich Vilheim Ferdinand Wachnroeder. In the eighteen thirties. These 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:18.200 pigments are also what's responsible for yellow and orange coloration 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:22.040 in cultured butter and cheeses that haven't been dyed. That's 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:26.079 because carrotenoid pigments also occur in fresh grass, and when 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.639 a cow eats that grass, the pigments wind up in 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.000 the cow's milk, blocked away in fat molecules that get 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.400 broken up when the milk is turned into butter or 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.560 cheese like cheddar. A large carrot has about six melograms 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:42.280 of beta carotene. These six milligrams will convert to about 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.280 a thousand micrograms of vitamin A in the human body, 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.160 which is a little bit more than the recommended daily intake, 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.720 but even so, with about a twelve to one beta 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:55.080 carotene to vitamin A conversion rate, you'd need to eat 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.880 a hundred and twenty to three hundred carrots per day 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.040 for several weeks, assuming that that was your only source 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.560 of the pigment for it to start showing up in 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.240 your skin. While orange, yellow, and red fruits and veggies 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.360 are the primary cause of carotonemia, it can also be 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.720 caused by foods of other colors. A justice beta carotene 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:19.359 is found in grass. It's also found in cabbage, spinach, kiwi, asparagus, 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.119 and apples, just to name a few. But as long 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.200 as you don't overdo it, eating produce that contains beta 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.400 carotene is great for you. A study published in the 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.920 American Journal of Public Health in reported that eating just 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.400 two extra portions of fruits and vegetables a day for 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.560 six weeks caused a detectible change in skin tone, in 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:47.120 that it produced a healthier glow. Today's episode is based 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.880 on the article It's true eating too many carrots can 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.280 turn your skin orange on how stuff works dot Com, 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.920 written by Laurel Dove. Brain Stuff is production of I 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.160 Heart Radio in partnership of how stuff Works dot Com, 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.960 and it is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.160 from my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.120 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.