We all know about alcohol, drug and tobacco addictions but it is also possible to become addicted to the simple carrot. Scientists say that this is a rare addiction to the beta carotene in the carrots and that addicts may have orange abdomens and the soles of their feet and palms of their hands may turn orange.
One man, aged 40, from UK, had started to eat carrots when he stopped smoking. He ate more than five bunches of them per day (but nobody says how many there were in each bunch). He said that when he was not eating carrots, he thought about them all the time. According to psychiatrists, withdrawal of the carrots made him extremely agitated and unable to relax.
A 49 year old, Australian woman, was under a lot of stress in her personal life and started eating carrots when she stopped smoking. Withdrawal of them caused insomnia, nervousness and irritability.
A lot of research has been carried out into excessive eating of carrots as part of a food fad but very little is known about addiction to them. It has been shown that the anti oxidants in beta carotene can help in the treatment of other addictions by increasing the body's ability to transport oxygen around the cells. This has worked well with nicotine addiction, but the case of the Australian woman and her substitution of carrots for cigarettes, has led psychologists to wonder whether there is more to this than the actual beta carotene content of the carrots.
Don't get the idea that eating carrots is likely to get you addicted though. For most people carrots are a highly nutritious root vegetable and a perfect carrot should be firm with a smooth skin. One 8oz glass of carrot juice contains 20,000mg of vitamin A. They also keep for weeks in the refrigerator.
