Six-year-old boy’s skin turns YELLOW because he eats so many oranges
Convincing your kids to eat fruits and vegetables is one of the hardest parts of parenting.
But not for Charlotte Travers.
Her six-year-old Thomas absolutely loves eating oranges and satsumas, sometimes swallowing a whole bag in a day.
However, it has a downside: his skin turns yellow.
Ms Travers, 32, from Paignton in Devon, is now joking about the phenomenon and naming her son ‘Thomas Simpson’, in a nod to the famous cartoon and the characters’ yellow skin.
It was a case of ‘you are what you eat’ for young Thomas Travers, with the six-year-old’s skin taking on a yellowish hue after eating large amounts of oranges and satsumas.
Thomas shows off his yellow-toned skin compared to his mother’s
At first, however, the change in color disturbed her. Even the family doctor was baffled by the cause.
“He started to turn yellow and I was quite concerned because it could be a sign of kidney or liver failure,” she said.
“I thought just in case, you never know, I’d take him to the doctor.”
Yellow skin is mainly caused by jaundice, a sign of a problem in organs such as the liver and kidneys.
It could be a sign of a serious condition such as liver disease, as a substance called bilirubin builds up in the body, causing tissues to turn yellow.
Thomas’s GP suspected nothing sinister, as he had no yellow eyes – a telltale sign of the condition.
Thomas’ mother Charlotte, said her son sometimes ate a bag of oranges or satsumas a day
The fruits are rich in a substance called beta-carotene, a natural pigment that gives the fruit its distinctive color
Although harmless, too much of the substance can build up in the body, giving the skin a yellow tinge. This can be mistaken for jaundice, a condition that causes the skin to yellow as a result of organs struggling to function
Ms Travers said: ‘She said that sometimes children can just get discolored skin from playing in the mud or sand.
“But this was more than that — so we ran blood tests to rule out something, but they all came back to normal.”
The domestic violence counselor then told the GP about her son’s unusual eating habits, who can see Thomas eating a bag of oranges or satsumas every day.
From that moment on, the riddle was solved.
“I wouldn’t have thought in a million years that his skin would turn yellow,” she said.
Oranges — and other fruits, such as mangoes, apricots and pumpkins — contain a natural pigment called beta-carotene.
This fabric gives them their signature shade.
Over time, consuming excessive amounts of beta-carotene can cause the skin to turn a yellow-orange color.
Carotenemia, as it is medically known, is harmless.
But it may take several months for the skin to return to its normal color.
There are no known negative health problems associated with consuming too much beta-carotene.
As part of a balanced diet, the substance is actually beneficial.
This is because the human body can convert beta-carotene into vitamin A, which helps the immune system, eyes and skin.
Mrs. Travers does not discourage her son’s healthy eating habits.
“I have a rule in our house that if it’s in the fruit bowl, you can have as much as you want—and that hasn’t changed,” she said.
“When the doctor told us what the cause was, we both thought it was hilarious.
“We joke about him now and call him Thomas Simpson.”