Orange feet
Posted by momofcaitlin on Jun 28, 2010 · Member since Jun 2002 · 588 posts
My daughter and I have been eating a lot more vegetables lately, thanks to our CSA. Nori has also become her favorite snack which she eats like some kids eat chips. My daughter is just about the healthiest kid I know. I can't remember the last time she was sick, and she has been around a lot of sick kids. Anyway, I've been noticing that the soles of her feet are orange. From doing a little research, I'm assuming this is from all the beta carotene that she eats. I can't see it anywhere else on her body, and my eczematous hands and feet definitely don't have it. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm not really worried, just curious.
I have not personally experienced this but about 25 yrs ago, some family friends were feeding their DD the typical omni babyfood diet. She would have the jar of "complete dinner", which always had carrots and and extra veggie, often carrots since she liked them. She was a fair skinned redhead and turned orange. Also, my sister used to be an ER nurse and had a teen girl come into the ER because she had turned orange. Turned out she recently decided to go vegetarian but the only veggie she liked was carrots. My sis encouraged her to try more different veggies. :) So. neither I nor my family has ever turned orange but I have evidence of it happening.
There's a book of medical histories with the title "The Orange Man" which discusses this phenomenon. The name of it is "carotenemia." If you can get her to eat fewer carrots and eat more variety of fruit and veg, it will pass. Nothing serious.