Side Effects of Eating Too Many Carrots
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Side Effects of Eating Too Many Carrots

Eating tons of carrots has its health benefits but at what cost?

Side Effects of Eating Too Many Carrots
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Updated on July 31, 2025
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It's no coincidence that carrots have a permanent place in the produce aisle — the sweet root vegetable is a popular snack, a common ingredient in many beloved meals, and a staple of crudités platters.

Besides being versatile and inexpensive, carrots are healthy — they're a low-calorie source of beta-carotene, dietary fiber, and several vitamins and minerals.

However, while a carrot-rich diet has its benefits, eating copious amounts of the bright orange vegetable may cause some unwelcome side effects.

Potential Side Effects

Carrots are the leading source of beta-carotene in the American diet. Beta-carotene is one of a few carotenoids that your body converts to vitamin A, a nutrient that protects good vision, eye health, and immunity.

One cup of chopped, raw carrots provides about 430 percent of the recommended daily value (RDV) for vitamin A based on a 2,000-calorie diet, while an 8-ounce (oz) glass of carrot juice delivers more than twice that amount. What’s more, eating large quantities of carrots doesn't put you at risk of vitamin A overload because your body converts beta-carotene only as needed.

Carotenemia

However, having large amounts of carotene in your blood can cause carotenemia, or yellowish discoloration of the skin. The harmless condition is typically most apparent on palms, soles, and ears and disappears gradually on a lower-carotene diet.

Digestion Issues

Carrots are a good source of dietary fiber — you'll get about 4 grams (g) from a cup of chopped, raw carrots and about 5 g from a cup of sliced, cooked carrots.

Insoluble fiber, the kind that binds to water and promotes efficient digestion and bowel regularity, accounts for more than 80 percent of the fiber in raw carrots.

Keep in mind that even a modest increase in dietary fiber could temporarily disrupt your bowels, and consuming large amounts of insoluble fiber can cause stomach pain and loose stools until your digestive system adjusts to the higher fiber intake. A high intake of insoluble fiber can also lead to constipation if you don't drink enough fluids to help the fiber move through your intestinal tract.

What's Considered Eating Too Many Carrots?

Although you may be eating too many carrots if your skin has yellowed or you have loose stools, other foods can contribute to both of these problems. A diet rich in tomatoes, winter squash, or sweet potatoes can cause carotenemia, just as eating more whole grains, dried beans, and dried fruit can temporarily loosen stools.

It might be helpful, then, to focus instead on how many vegetables you should be eating a day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises most women to consume 2 to 3 cups of vegetables a day, and most men to eat 2.4 to 4 cups a day. It takes just six baby carrots to make a 1/2-cup serving.

Variation Is Key

Eating too much of any one food often implies a limited diet, or one that excludes other healthy foods. Carrots may help you get plenty of vitamin A, dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins C, B6, and K, but they aren't a particularly good source of most other nutrients, including calcium and iron.

They're also low in fat, a nutrient that's essential to your body's ability to absorb and use beta-carotene as well as vitamin A. Eating a varied diet — one in which you eat a range of foods in moderation — is the best way to meet your body's nutritional needs.

The Takeaway

  • Eating too many carrots can cause carotenemia, a harmless yellowing of the skin from excess beta-carotene, but won't lead to vitamin A toxicity.
  • High amounts of carrot fiber can trigger digestive upset, including stomach pain and loose stools, until your body adjusts and may even cause constipation without enough fluids.
  • Relying heavily on carrots limits dietary variety, potentially leading to other nutrient deficiencies and hindering your body's absorption of beta-carotene; a balanced diet is always best.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Vitamin A and Carotenoids. National Institutes of Health (NIH). March 2025.
  2. Carotenemia. National Institutes of Health (NIH). June 2023.
  3. Individual Sugars, Soluble, and Insoluble Dietary Fiber Contents of 70 High Consumption Foods. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 2002.
  4. Constipation. Cleveland Clinic. July 2023.
  5. Dietary Fiber: Essential for a Healthy Diet. Mayo Clinic. December 2024.
  6. Adults Meeting Fruit and Vegetable Intake Recommendations. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). January 2002.
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Kayli Anderson, RDN

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Kayli Anderson has over a decade of experience in nutrition, culinary education, and lifestyle medicine. She believes that eating well should be simple, pleasurable, and sustainable. Anderson has worked with clients from all walks of life, but she currently specializes in nutrition therapy and lifestyle medicine for women. She’s the founder of PlantBasedMavens.com, a hub for women to get evidence-based, practical, and woman-centered guidance on nutrition and cooking, hormone health, fertility, pregnancy, movement, mental well-being, nontoxic living, and more.

Anderson is board-certified in lifestyle medicine and serves as lead faculty of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s (ACLM) "Food as Medicine" course. She is past chair of the ACLM's registered dietitian member interest group, secretary of the women's health member interest group, and nutrition faculty for many of ACLM's other course offerings. She is the coauthor of the Plant-Based Nutrition Quick Start Guide and works with many of the leading organizations in nutrition and lifestyle medicine to develop nutrition content, recipes, and educational programs.

Anderson frequently speaks on the topics of women’s health and plant-based nutrition and has coauthored two lifestyle medicine textbooks, including the first one on women’s health, Improving Women's Health Across the Lifespan.

She received a master's degree in nutrition and physical performance and is certified as an exercise physiologist and intuitive eating counselor. She's a student of herbal medicine and women's integrative and functional medicine. She lives with her husband in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where you’ll find her out on a trail or in her garden.

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