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A friend of mine was drinking a bottle of Sunny D today, and we got talking about the stories of people that had been turned "yellow" from drinking too much - I thought that it was just something made up by the media to scare people, but he was convinced that this was true and had been proven so by science!

Has this been found to be true?

ckittel
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soulBit
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    I've been a party to turning at least one of my children yellow through too much beta-carotene in carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, and other orange baby foods. – Eric Wilson Jun 02 '11 at 21:00
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    Only if you combine Sunny D with LSD..... ;-> – Moab Aug 20 '11 at 04:36

1 Answers1

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High doses of beta-carotene can be deposited in your skin and can lead to a yellow color. Beta-carotene is a pro-vitamin and an orange dye, if it accumulates in the skin it will turn it yellow.

Excessive consumption of Sunny D, which contains beta-carotene, has been observed to colour the skin of a toddler yellow (see this report from the BBC). This can happen with anything containing high amounts of beta-carotene, but it is not dangerous. But you need to drink an excessive amount of Sunny D for it to happen.

Mad Scientist
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  • Is it reversible, or is it like the blue tint you get from colloidal silver? – Lagerbaer Jun 02 '11 at 19:26
  • I was going to mention colloidal silver :) – horatio Jun 02 '11 at 19:33
  • @Lagerbaer The paper says the carotenoid levels decreased after stopping the treatment, it seems to be completely reversible – Mad Scientist Jun 02 '11 at 19:34
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    @Lagerbaer: It is reversible. Just stop consuming it, and it will eventually filter out of your system (mentioned in the posted BBC article). Anecdote warning!: I met someone affected by this, as she drank way too much carrot juice. She stopped, and her skin normalized. – erekalper Jun 02 '11 at 19:35