Doctor explains true effects of 'Carrotmaxxing' trend people are doing to 'tan themselves'

Chowing down on carrots has become the latest TikTok 'looksmaxxing' fad, with claims the orange veg is a 'natural retinol' and can give you a glowy tan without the risk of skin cancer - but one doctor is debunking myths around the trend.

According to TikTok, there are over 18,000 videos under the hashtag #carrotjuice, with an explosion in wellness influencers promoting daily carrot juice blends AKA 'carrotmaxxing' as a way to achieve clearer, 'glowy' and tanned skin.

One guy, who appeared to drink an entire large blender jug full of the stuff in a viral TikTok video, even said it took him a staggering 'hour and 10 minutes' to gulp it all down.

The viral trend appears to fall under the wider world of 'looksmaxxing', an online self-improvement trend focused on maximising your physical appearance.

According to those partaking in the trend, the veg can mimic the effects of topical retinol, but speaking to LADbible, Dr Susie Gawler, Clinical Lead for Acne & Skin at Boots Online Doctor, was quick to shut down the claims.

"Despite what social media is suggesting, carrots don’t contain retinol, which is the active form of vitamin A used in dermatology treatments and cosmetics," she said.

"Instead, carrots contain beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. However, this process can be limited and vary significantly from person to person."

Scranning too many carrots can lead to a medical condition called carotenemia, which causes the skin to turn a yellowish-orange colour due to a pigment called beta-carotene. If the pigment accumulates faster in the body than the liver can handle, this is when the skin can start changing colour.

Dr Gawler explains: "Beta-carotene can support overall skin health and act as an antioxidant which contributes to a healthy-looking complexion over time, however, it doesn’t work in the same way as cosmetic retinoids, which are designed to directly act on skin cell turnover and skin texture.

"In reality, we wouldn’t expect even those drinking large amounts of carrot juice to reliably achieve effects comparable to cosmetic retinoids when it comes to improving the appearance of ‘glowy skin’."

But chomping on too many carrots can have more impacts than changing the hue of your skin.

According to a 2012 case report published on PubMed, a 48-year-old man, dubbed the 'Carrot Man' in the medical paper, turned up at his doctor complaining of abdominal discomfort and yellow/orange skin discolouration, with a CT scan revealing his colon was 'full of stool'.

In the end, the bloke confessed to 'ingesting 6-7 pounds of carrots per week to facilitate his dieting effort' and ended up being diagnosed with constipation, hypercarotinemia (skin discolouration), and possible vitamin A toxicity.

Terrifyingly, according to the National Library of Medicine, 'prolonged and excessive vitamin A intake can result in significant organ damage, including the liver, bones, central nervous system, and skin'. However, this is unlikely to happen from eating too many carrots.

Luckily for this bloke, though, he was able to ditch his excessive carrot-eating habit, and his health returned to normal within a month, but that doesn't mean hopping on the carrotmaxxing trend is necessarily a good idea.

If you're opting to go hard on tinned carrots rather than raw, you run the risk of going well over the recommended daily allowance for sodium (no more than 6g a day, the NHS advises), which could spell bad news for your health if continued long term, including giving you high blood pressure.

Of course, eating carrots as part of a balanced diet is great for your health - the veg is high in fibre, antioxidants, vitamin K, vitamin A, and calcium. Just don't go expecting to see a major skin glow up from your hummus and carrot picky bits this bank hol weekend...