A group of vegetables might give the skin a healthy, golden glow because of their antioxidant properties and orange pigment.

Carotenoids are a class of nutrients that typically give foods a rich orange color: Beta-carotene in carrots is an example.

Videos have been circulating on social media describing the benefits of these foods for healthy, glowing, tanned skin, suggesting that the orange pigments in these foods may lead to orange-looking skin.

For example, @gregogallagher made a video to his 1.5 million Instagram followers saying that carrots and sweet potatoes might make people look more attractive because the carotenoids can increase skin yellowness.

Similarly, @isabelle.lux made a TikTok video, which has more than 300,000 likes, advising another content creator to “just eat three large carrots a day” for a natural tan.

More recently, @notjimmymaio said that “eating carrots can actually change the tone of your skin” in a video with nearly 20,000 shares on TikTok.

But nutritionist Kate Taylor, founder of Eat Drink Think Nutrition, a nutritional therapy service, told Newsweek that the carotenoid glow is unlikely due to these vegetables’ orange pigment alone.

“I do think that consistently and steadily eating a diet containing fruit and vegetables containing colorful carotenoids can contribute to a healthy appearance of the skin because they are also anti-inflammatory antioxidants,” she said.

“Exacerbated inflammation would detract from skin glow. As a person suffering with eczema, I know this for a fact. So it’s not only the carotenoids but the complexity of carotenoid-rich foods in their entirety,” Taylor said.

Carotenoid-rich foods include carrots, squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, papaya, tomatoes, spinach and kale, so not all carotenoids are orange. Some forms are converted to vitamin A in the body.

Eating excessive amounts of carotenoids can contribute to yellowness or orangeness in the skin, a condition known as carotenemia. And there is some evidence that smaller amounts of carotenoids might have a similar, more moderate effect.

For example, a 2017 paper found that beta-carotene enhanced facial color, attractiveness and perceived health—but not actual health.

A study from 2011 concluded that carotenoid-derived skin coloration in Caucasian faces was perceived as an indicator of health.

Taylor told Newsweek that there is some evidence to support the notion that some carotenoids—in particular lycopene, found in tomatoes, and astaxanthin, found in seafood and algae—may support skin health and radiance more generally.

“The other important factor to consider about carotenoid-rich foods and skin health is that carotenoid-rich foods tend to be whole foods, high in complex carbohydrates,” she said.

Complex carbohydrates, she explained, are longer chains of sugar molecules that have a steadier impact on blood sugar than refined carbohydrates, in part because of their fiber content.

“A diet high in refined sugars, trans fats and ultra-processed foods increases the risk of developing and accumulating advanced glycation end products,” she said.

“These are when sugars bind with proteins or fats in the blood and manifest as highly inflammatory sticky compounds, which exacerbate and accelerate skin aging,” Taylor said. And these would detract from a healthy glow.

Taylor also warned against taking supplements for skin complexion without professional advice on their suitability for the individual.

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References

Foo, Y. Z., Rhodes, G., Simmons, L. W. (2017). The carotenoid beta-carotene enhances facial color, attractiveness and perceived health, but not actual health, in humans, Behavioral Ecology 28(2). https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arw188

Stephen, I. D., Coetzee, V., Perrett, D. I. (2011). Carotenoid and melanin pigment coloration affect perceived human health, Evolution and Human Behavior 32(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.09.003

Perrett, D. I., Talamas, S. N., Cairns, P., Henderson, A. J. (2020). Skin Color Cues to Human Health: Carotenoids, Aerobic Fitness, and Body Fat, Frontiers Psychology 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00392