Now that Summer is over, those of us who love the sunshine might be sad to see our (responsibly acquired) tans starting to fade. Thankfully, TikTok might have the solution – one weird trick that will let me tan without lying in the sun, in the form of a short video from a young woman holding in her hand… a carrot.
Our heroine begins by telling us, “Don’t make me say it again… three large carrots a day and you can change your natural undertone”, before showing us stills of her as a child to compare the skin tone she used to have to her tanned look today. It’s a very short clip, but it raises so many questions.
Firstly, I’m reasonably pale now but, if I look back at photos of myself as a child, I was even paler. This is because for many of us, our skin darkens slightly as we age. Partly this is because our melanin production – the pigment in our hair and skin – reaches its peak a little after puberty. It’s also likely that repeated exposure to sun throughout our lifetime influences our skin tone. Once we reach older age, our skin tone lightens… but since this was a video on TikTok, it’s safe to assume the lady in our video probably doesn’t need to think about that for a while.
But can we really change our skin tone with food? Those of us who remember cautionary tales from the 1990s will already know that the answer is yes. In 1999, we learned of a four year old girl who was drinking 1.5 litres of the soft drink Sunny Delight per day, whose skin turned a “yellowy colour” as a result.
Sunny Delight, it turns out, contained added beta carotene in order to give it its vibrant yellow colour. Beta carotene is a carotenoid that comes from all sorts of natural sources like pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots and mangoes. In high doses, it can affect the colour of our skin – and in the case of a four year old, it doesn’t take very much for that change to occur. Understandably, this can be quite scary, because the effect is a lot like the yellowing skin tone of jaundice, which can be a sign of liver dysfunction.
The clinically relevant discoloration (called carotenosis) we see from high intake of beta carotene requires an increase beyond 20mg of beta carotene per day. A medium-sized carrot has around 4mg of beta carotene in it. So, it is therefore plausible that eating three large carrots per day could cause notable carotenosis in people with fair skin. However, that does not mean our TikTok skin sage is correct, because there is at least one problem with her advice: carotenosis causes skin to take on an orange hue. It also tends not to occur evenly across the body – it concentrates areas like the palms. So, while it is technically cheaper than at-home fake tanning, it has some of the similar problems in that it can look patchy and orange. Although, carotenosis won’t smell like biscuits as fake tan sometimes does.
Fortunately, carotenosis in this form is completely harmless. It’s just a discolouration of the skin, and doesn’t cause any other known health problems. However, there is another form, called secondary carotenoderma, which can be an indication of some serious health issues. It arises as a symptom of conditions such as hypothyroidism, diabetes, anorexia nervosa and issues with the kidneys or liver.
Beta carotene is itself a precursor to vitamin A, which is why it often comes with warnings like: “overconsumption of carrots may cause vitamin A toxicity, gastrointestinal discomfort, and skin discoloration, known as carotenemia.” Googling ‘carrots and vitamin A toxicity’ brings up a slew of articles about “foods you can accidentally overdose on”.
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin – when we consume too much of it, we store it in our bodies instead of flushing it out. Vitamin A toxicity is therefore a real risk of taking some supplements and eating some foods – famously, polar bear liver (The Skeptic magazine does not endorse the eating of polar bears). But it’s not true that foods high in vitamin A precursors are a risk, because in their case the body is regulating the production of vitamin A by metabolising the precursor into the vitamin. Those metabolic routes have all sorts of feedback systems designed for keeping everything under safe regulatory control, which means eating too many carrots is not a known risk for vitamin A toxicity.
The issue is when you ingest too much of the pre-formed vitamin A, which you can get from liver and supplements that get used in the body or stored in the liver. This can then cause symptoms including changes in consciousness, dizziness, vision changes, headache, drowsiness, hair loss, sensitivity to sunlight, skin peeling, a different type of yellow discolouration of the skin, vomiting, nausea and bone problems.
Of course, suddenly changing your diet in any way (say, for example, radically upping your carrot intake) can cause gastrointestinal discomfort. Drastically and suddenly increasing your intake of fibre from fruit and vegetables can cause bloating, flatulence and diarrhoea, though this usually settles down once your body adjusts.
Still seeking sun-kissed skin
Ingesting something in order to change the colour of the skin isn’t a new idea. In the late 80s and early 90s, the FDA was required to act on issues with tanning pills, including some which contained a compound called Canthaxanthin. Canthaxanthin is a keto-carotene, which is approved by the FDA for use as a food additive and is typically used as a food colouring. It’s also found naturally in edible mushrooms, eggs and some fish.
In some tanning products, canthaxanthin is deposited in the fat under the skin to cause a golden, tanned appearance. But the doses in tanning pills are much, much higher than would be found in food. Taking high dose supplements of canthaxanthin can cause it to build up and cause damage in the retina, plus liver problems and skin complaints. According to the FDA:
“So-called tanning pills are promoted for tinting the skin by ingesting massive doses of color additives, usually canthaxanthin. When taken at these large doses – many times greater than the amount normally ingested in food – this substance is deposited in various parts of the body, including the skin, where it imparts a color. The color varies with each individual, ranging from orange to brownish. This coloration is not the result of an increase in the skin’s supply of melanin, the substance produced naturally in the skin to help protect it against UV radiation.”
They go on to explain that:
“In the August 1993 issue of American Pharmacy, Darrell Hulisz, Pharm.D., and pharmacist Ginger Boles described this condition – called “canthaxanthin-induced retinopathy” – as “a common adverse effect associated with canthaxanthin use,” adding: “The patient experiencing this form of retinopathy rarely is symptomatic, although decreased visual acuity has been reported.”
Fortunately, the condition is reversible, although it may take two to five years, and in some cases deposits have been detected for up to seven years. Hulisz and Boles also referred to reports of “nausea, cramping, diarrhea, severe itching, and welts” associated with the use of canthaxanthin “tanning” pills.”
So, tanning pills: bad. But maybe ingesting carrots to change our skin tone: not so bad? Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it. You’re likely to look an orangey yellow rather than the golden brown you might desire, and with an uneven and palm-heavy distribution at that.
It probably won’t actually cause you any harm, though it is a lot of vegetables to chew through every day. That said, I’ve used fake tanner before, and that’s no less weird, so who am I to judge?
