Insane side by side photos of woman show alarming effect of eating too many carrots

Before and after photos of a woman that loves eating carrots has revealed what eating too much of the vegetable can do to your appearance.

When you're growing up, you may be told by your parents or elders that eating carrots will give you 'better eyesight', and while this is likely nothing more than a wives' tales, there are benefits to eating the vegetable.

According to Health, carrots can help with digestion, skin, heart health, immunity, and weight management.

However, the woman hasn't reported on any of this, instead taking to Reddit to explain what happened to her skin after eating a 'big bag' of carrots 'every few days' to improve her overall health.

And social media users were bemused by the outcome, but she claimed that she had carotenemia.

The woman stopped eating carrots and returned to her normal skin tone (Reddit)

The condition is harmless, and causes a yellowish, orange tint that is brought on by high levels of beta-carotene in the blood, a natural pigment found in certain produce, Cleveland Clinic says.

It can be caused by the excessive consumption of carotene-rich foods such as sweet potatoes and - you guessed it - carrots.

The anonymous user shared a photo of herself in December last year, as her skin tone had drastically changed and caused her to think that she had jaundice, a serious skin condition.

This caused her to reduce her carrot intake from five medium carrots a day to just one on occasion.

The photos have since gone viral on the platform, with over 89,000 upvotes and almost 4,000 comments, with the user joking about the comparison, comparing herself to an 'Oompa Loompa', orange-faced characters from the Roald Dahl book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

"I used to eat a bowl of cottage cheese with a pile of carrots for lunch because I love them and they're cheap," she admitted.

"I was going through a big bag every few days."

The anonymous user had to cut down on her carrot intake (Reddit)

She noted: "I'm pretty short — 5 foot, 3 inches, so the Oompa Loompa comparison is perfect."

While it can take months for skin colour to return to normal, she added that 'everyone's body is different', suggesting that her 'pale' complexion made it stand out more.

"I stopped [eating so many carrots] because aesthetically I didn't want to be the only orange person in photos," she explained, which is fair enough.

Speaking about the condition, registered dietician Beth Czerwony, MS, RD, LD from Cleveland Clinic explained: “For most people, consuming 10-20 milligrams of beta-carotene can cause skin changes, which is equivalent to five medium-sized carrots a day,” fitting into the user's estimated carrot intake.

She did also point out that you'd have to eat that much for weeks to see a change in skin colour.

Eva Rawlings Parker, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and she said of carotenemia: “Diet-associated carotenemia is technically a sign of beta-carotene toxicity, although it is generally considered a benign condition.

“In adults, it may be mistaken for more serious conditions such as jaundice—yellowing of the skin and eyes due to liver failure.”