They die for this glow – a box of carrots at a time.
A new Tiktok trend called “”carrotmaxxing“” takes root among the users obsessed with beauty that seek to mark a shine with sunburn.
But instead of tanned happiness, some people turn orange – or worse, landing in the hospital.
“The false tan has become too expensive. It is time to start Carrotmaxxing,” said a user, @Sydneypacce, on X (formerly Twitter) on May 9 alongside a photo of six carrot carrots in slices and a bottle of Dr Pepper.
Nine days – and an apparent vegetable frenzy – later, she published an alarming update: “Update: Carrotmaxxing sent me to the emergency room.”
The trend filled with beta-carotene offers a natural tan by turning the skin a warmer shade.
But if you go too hard on the carrots, you could end up with caroenemia-a rather harmless condition that literally turns your yellow-orange skin due to “high levels of beta-carotene in the blood”, according to health.
Turning your skin with a different color is one thing – but being sent to the emergency room for sodium overload of the root vegetable is another.
Experts warn that high sodium levels in canned carrots – how many participate in this trend – can cause serious damage.
According to the doctors of the Harvard Medical School, who wrote in a recent statement: “It is also very likely that some patients are more sensitive to salt than others. Thus, the realization of the restriction of salt to the most vulnerable could be better than a unique approach. ”
This is apparently the case for @Sydneypacce, which consumed six carrot cans in slices per day – not raw carrots, be careful – amount to more than 5,250 milligrams of sodium per day.
This represents more than double the recommended limit of the American Heart Association of 2,300 mg, and well beyond the ideal ceiling of 1,500 mg.
“I have already had heart problems, so all the sodium of carrots released me a little and I went in a slight insufficiency of organ,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet on May 19. “I do much better now!”
The carrots themselves are not the enemy – far from it. Packed with fiber, vitamin K, calcium and antioxidants to strengthen vision, they are a powerful snack when consumed in moderation.
“Since they are known to benefit from health and vision of the eyes, carrots would be loaded with vitamin A, but they actually have no vitamin A in its active form,” said Rosy Rojas, diet trainee at Frances Stern Nutrition Center.
“Instead, carrots are filled with carotenoids, mainly beta-carotene, which can be converted into active vitamin A. Our body is capable of regulating this conversion, so toxicity is not a problem.”
But when associated with canned vegetables with sodium laces and a desperate quest for influence, the risks increases, as indicated by the independent.
Although the brilliant can be the goal, the craze of carrots turns out to be less a hack of tanned beauty – and more of a edifying story.
Because when it comes to carrotmaxxing, too much good thing can let you be cooked.
