Eating a high volume of foods containing beta carotene can make the skin turn yellow
A mum says her son turned into a ‘real-life Simpsons character’ with yellow skin – after eating too many oranges.
Charlotte Travers, 32, noticed her lad Thomas was becoming a yellow colour and took him to the doctor for tests.
The family were stunned to discover the problem was caused by the six-year-old’s love of eating oranges and satsumas – sometimes a bag a day.
Medical tests didn’t show anything sinister but did flag up unusually high levels of beta carotene – a vitamin found in particularly orange-coloured foods.
Charlotte said the family now jokingly refer to him as “Thomas Simpson” – a nod to the famous cartoon and the characters’ yellow skin.
She said: “He started turning yellow and I was quite worried because it can be a sign of kidney or liver failure.
“I thought I’d take him to the doctor just in case, you never know.
“At the initial appointment the doctor said the main symptom of kidney failure was yellow eyes, which Thomas didn’t have.
“She said sometimes children can just get stained skin from playing in the mud or sand, but this was more than that – so we did blood tests to rule anything out but they all came back normal.”
Ms Travers, a domestic abuse support worker, from Paignton, Devon, then informed the doctor about her son, Thomas’, extreme eating habits.
Her GP then confirmed that the youngsters skin colour was simply a result of his love for oranges.
She said: “I did tell the doctor about his general diet – things like he at lots of fruit and veg, and that he loves cheese.
“I never in a million years would have thought that was what was causing his skin to turn yellow.”
Unusually, eating a high volume of foods containing beta carotene has been scientifically proven to make skin turn yellow.
Foods other than oranges that can have this affect include carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe and even dried apricots.
Ms Travers said: “I have a rule in our house that if it’s in the fruit bowl you can have as much as you’d like – and that hasn’t changed.
“It’s harmless thankfully, people drink shots of beta carotene to tan more – so luckily for him he still eats just as many oranges.
“When the doctor told us about what the cause was, we both thought it was absolutely hilarious.
“We now joke about and call him Thomas Simpson.”
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