What Happens When You Overdose on Carrots?

Carrots are incredibly versatile vegetables that can brighten up any meal. They can also transform your meal from bland to beguiling instantly. These veggies are the perfect ingredient for nutritional appetising benefits.

While they are delicious, another incredible fact is that they can brighten up your skin – and not in a good way. Taking too many carrots can cause your skin turning orange. So if you’re not a fan of rocking the Oompa Loompa look then you need to moderate your consumption.

They say too much of everything can be bad for you and that includes good things too. Carrots fall into this category because too much of them can cause a medical condition known as carotenemia.

Carotenemia is caused by prolonged and excessive consumption of food rich in carotene. The beta-carotene gives the vegetables the orange colour. When consumed in excess, you’re therefore increasing the beta-carotene level in your bloodstream. Because of this, the skin has yellow, orange, or golden pigmentation.

This condition is most common in infants. Naturally, your skin excretes carotene through sweat but the colour can still be clear. The symptoms include orange feet sole, palm and under skin tone, or laugh lines. Although harmless, seeing your skin turn orange can cause quite a shock. Other food items that have this beta-carotene include sweet potato, squash, etc.

How excessive is excess?

There’s no ‘one size fits all’ amount of carrots. Due to the different metabolism in individuals, what may be the adequate amount for one may not be sufficient for the other. However, the average amount of beta-carotene dosage is six to eight milligrams a day. Therefore, taking more than that (about 3 big carrots) can cause the condition.

Ways to enjoy carrots

You may choose to do the old-fashioned crunching and munching on carrots right off the produce aisle. Surely, you should eat them after washing them but that’s up to you – no judging. However, there are several other ways to enjoy a good old carrot. You can have them juiced, shredded in a salad, made into smoothies or even baked.

Here are some recipes on making your carrots more beguiling than boring:

Ginger carrot soup

Get this recipe from foodiecrush.

One bowl carrot apple muffin

Get this recipe from Minimalist Baker.

Cashew carrot bread

Get this recipe from Beautiful Mess.

Easy ranch baby carrot

Get this recipe from Damn Delicious.

Garlic roasted carrot