Suppose you drank a significant amount of non-toxic blue dye. Obviously, some of it would pass through your body and out through your urine and feces. And some of it would be absorbed by your body.
Would your entire body take on a bluish tint? Would only your blood vessels be affected, or would the dye get into the cells of your muscles, bones, skin, organs, etc.? If you continued to drink the dye, would every cell in your body be affected? Or would the dye break down into other substances, and not turn anything blue at all?
I don’t know about dyes, but you can turn yourself blue by ingesting too much silver - it’s not really toxic, but it doesn’t break down and does eventually make its way into skin cells, eyes and other organs. The condition is called argyria.
You can also have fun with carotene, which is found in carots (duh) and isn’t toxic either. It just turns you a sickly shade of orange if you have too much of it.
those two answered your question. it’s a matter of finding the (safe) substance that brings about the correct chemical reaction roundabout your skin for the desired color.
I remember reading somewhere that food given to comatose patients was being dyed blue (for some reason, but I don’t know what it was), but that this was causing problems (in cases where they didn’t recover) as post-mortem examination was finding the internal organs all dyed deep blue.
About 150 mg/kg of Brilliant Blue G has been shown to turn rats’ skin and eyes blue (and also to help repair their spinal cord injuries.) See here and here for details.
BTW, the OP subject line has always amused me. And, on purpose clearly, it is delivered by The Blue Meanie in Yellow Submarine. Is that where it originates?
Back before we were married, my wife suffered from Carotenaemia, a yellowing of the skin caused by excessive intake of carrots or other vegetables. It took her years to get over, and her skin still has a somewhat yellowish cast from time to time.
Rocket Fizz carries it sporadically, dude.[sup]*****[/sup] I’ve heard that batches of it are only made every few months, but I don’t have a reliable cite for that.
I prefer the red variety if I can get it, as it doesn’t seem to stain quite as much. The flavor also seems slightly better, but that may be my imagination.
