# Would eating a pound of carrots a day make my skin orange? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441 "2003-03-19T03:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Boob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Crazy\_Boob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Boob)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/1 "2003-03-19T03:21:35Z")
I absolutely love snacking on those little baby carrots, but my wife says that the carotene will make my skin turn orange. Okay that might be true, but exactly how much carrot must one eat for this to happen? I did a quick search on the topic and found disagreement. Many people warn against eating too many carrots and others say that the orange skin thing is practically a myth since, they claim, one would have to eat a ton of carrots for this to occur. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/2 "2003-03-19T03:26:22Z")
It happens. I’ve seen it in patients. Usually toddlers, fed alot of strained carrots and yams, but in some adult food faddists. I can’t tell you what dosage is necessary to make it happen, but it is definitely less than “tons”. QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/3 "2003-03-19T03:26:35Z")
It can happen, but I think you’d have to eat SEVERAL times the normal amount of carrots for that to happen. As in abnormal mass amounts. I won’t try to guess at the amount, as I’ll probably be wrong. I also don’t think it would be a drastic skin-tone change. ---
**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/4 "2003-03-19T03:32:40Z")
I’d like to see some orange **Crazy Boobs** ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/5 "2003-03-19T03:43:28Z")
It didn’t work for me. I ate a one pound bag of raw carrots every day for a long time until I read about Vitamin A poisoning. Not good. But my skin never did turn orange, either. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/6 "2003-03-19T03:45:15Z")
Would eating a pound of oranges a day turn your skin carrot, then? ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/7 "2003-03-19T04:10:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pseudotriton ruber ruber \* > \*\*Would eating a pound of oranges a day turn your skin carrot, then? \*\* Why, yes, yes it would. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/8 "2003-03-19T04:18:44Z")
Quoth the Cecil: [Yup](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_275a.html). ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/9 "2003-03-19T08:22:42Z")
and some people are silly enough to [try it](http://www.steelgirl.com/carrot.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/10 "2003-03-19T14:54:05Z")
A few years ago, a then-coworker of mine got on a health kick and got seriously into juicing. I don’t know how many carrots and other juiced vegetables he was eating, but he got a definite orange tinge to his skin. It went away when he stopped juicing so much. He looked a little odd for a while, though. ---
**Author:** ![cookeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@cookeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cookeze)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/11 "2003-03-19T15:59:42Z")
There was a book that covered this about 30 years ago: “The Orange Man and Other Narratives of Medical Detection” by Berton Roueche. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-eating-a-pound-of-carrots-a-day-make-my-skin-orange/162441/12 "2003-03-19T16:20:17Z")
My story is like Archergal. I did juicing with a friend for a while, but stopped when I noticed his skin color. I doubt a pound of raw carrots per day would change your skin color but I wouldn’t recommend that much either. It takes a lot of carrots to make a couple of glasses of juice–so take it easy on the juice.