Viral On Social Media Consumption Of Excessive Carrots Can Change Skin Color, Here's The Explanation

Illustration of carrots juice (Freepic)

JAKARTA - The assumption related to consuming carrots every day in large quantities can change the skin color to more skin tone and exotic has circulated on social media. However, it is actually necessary to know the scientific facts behind these assumptions because they are related to the health of the body.

Quoted from Verywell Health, on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, carrots are a type of vegetable that contains beta-caroten. This is a natural pigment that makes carrots have a bright orange color.

A dietist, Beth Czerwony, MS, RD, LD, said that eating carrots or drinking carrots juice about five medium-sized daily will indeed have an impact on skin tone changes. This happens because beta-carotene accumulates on the skin and makes the color somewhat yellowish or orange.

This condition is known as caroteneemia. This condition is harmless and can be lost by itself if you reduce beta-carroten consumption to a sufficient portion.

"When beta-carroten is consumed in large quantities, carotenoids will accumulate in the bloodstream and then settle in the skin, causing a change in color to yellow or orange," said Eva Rawlings Parker, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

However, it should be noted that the effect of yellow to orange skin only lasts a while. The color of the skin is also not the golden brown as is obtained if it is tanning from sunbathing in the sun.

In addition, Parker also reminded that yellow color on the skin must also be considered, especially if you have reduced beta-carroten intake. If the skin yellow color is still there, then you should check yourself in the hospital, because it can be a sign of developing diabetes, hypothyroidism, and high cholesterol.

Meanwhile, not only food carrots that contain high beta-carotene. There are many fruits and vegetables that have the same effect on the skin as carrots, even though they are not orange.

Some of them are sweet potatoes, red peppers, yellow labs, spinach, mangoes, papaya, apricots, tomatoes, and broccoli. Spices such as turmeric can also turn skin color yellow, because of the kurcuminoid content in them.