There are three main mechanisms involved in hypercarotenemia: excessive dietary intake of carotenoids, increased serum lipids, and decreased metabolism of carotenoids. The most common reported cause of hypercarotenemia (and thus carotenoderma) is increased intake, either through increased dietary foods or nutritional supplements. This change takes approximately 4 to 7 weeks to be recognized clinically. Numerous ingested substances are rich in carotenoids. Increased serum lipids also cause hypercarotenemia because there are increased circulating lipoproteins that contain bound carotenoids. Finally, in certain disease states, the metabolism and conversion of carotenoids to retinol is slowed, which can lead to decreased clearance and increased plasma levels. Elevated serum beta-carotene does not necessarily result in<unk> , but the latter is likely to show up when intake is more than 20 mg/day. Average adult intake in the U.S. around 2.3 mg/day. One medium-sized carrot has about 4.0 mg. Carotenoderma can be divided into two major types, primary and secondary. Primary carotenoderma is from increased oral ingestion of carotenoids, whereas secondary carotenoderma is caused from underlying disease states that increase serum carotenoids with normal oral intake of these compounds. Primary and secondary carotenoderma can coexist in the same patient. Foods associated with high levels of carotenoids include: * Alfalfa * Apples * Apricots * Asparagus * Beans * Beet greens * Berries * Broccoli * Brussels sprouts * Butter * Cabbage * Cantaloupes * Carrots * Chard * Cheese * Collard greens * Cucumbers * Egg yolks * Endives/Escaroles * Figs * Kale * Kiwis * Lettuce * Mangoes * Meat * Milk * Mustard * Nutritional supplements * Oranges * Palm oil (unrefined) * Papayas * Parsley * Parsnips * Peaches * Pineapples * Plums * Prunes * Pumpkins * Rutabaga/swedes/yellow turnips * Seaweed * Spinach * Squash * Sweet potatoes * Tomatoes * Watercress * Yams * Yellow corn * Yellow fat
Carotenosis
Jaundice
Microangiopathy
Chorangiosis
Angiolathyrism
Angiopathy
Cerebral atherosclerosis
Cerebral vasospasm