A VEGGIE fanatic says eating 10 carrots a day has given her a year-round tan — by turning her orange.
Pals of pale Dena Rendall, 21, feared she had suffered a make-up disaster when they noticed a flush to her face.
But the customer services worker, from Edinburgh, says scoffing loads of her beloved root veg for nearly a decade has led to carotenemia – a usually harmless pigmentation.
Dena spends around £40 a week on vegetables alone, including 6kg of her favourites.
She said: “I’m a blonde pale girl with very fair skin but because I eat so many carrots I can have a tan all year round.
“When people ask me what tan I use and I tell them I just eat a lot of carrots, they think I’m joking.
“I never get sick of them.”
Dena started crunching through one or two a day when she was 12, gradually upping her intake through her teens.
But she briefly cut down to six after a photograph taken at an 18th birthday party highlighted the stark colour contrast between her neck and face.
She recalled: “I thought, ‘Oh my God that cannot be real’.
“I looked like an Oompa Loompa!”
But she soon went back to her normal ten a day and insists she is rarely ill — and never tempted by fake tans.
She added: “It’s far healthier than sunbeds.
“I don’t think it’s worth risking the negative effects, so I think I’ll stick to my carrots.”
Carotenemia is caused by the prolonged intake of foods rich in carotene — a pigment that adds a yellow colour to the skin.
It is found in fruits and vegetables including orange, squash, papaya, right, mango, carrots and cabbage.
Carotenemia is usually not serious and is treated by a reduction in carotene-rich foods.
