Bunnies aren’t the only ones craving carrots this spring. A new viral TikTok trend has people “carrotmaxxing” — eating three or more full-sized carrots a day — to try to get glowy, tan skin (without the skin cancer risk).
TikToker @lisa.alkntra shared a time-lapse clip in one of her videos, showing her skin getting progressively more tan from September through December. Another TikToker @kendramfit shared a video of her tan, claiming that instead of self-tanner, she is “just eating an excessive amount of carrots.”
But does “carrotmaxxing” actually work — and is it good for you? HuffPost talked to dermatologists and nutrition experts to find out more.
How does it claim to work, exactly?
Eating an excessive amount of carrots causes carotenemia, “a condition that causes a yellow-orange hue to the skin because of eating beta-carotene-rich foods,” explained Dr. Corrie Alford, a board-certified dermatologist at MetroDerm in Atlanta. You can also achieve the same effect by eating squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin or oranges.
