Dyed by Carrots

When they see a patient whose skin has turned yellow, doctors automatically suspect liver disease. In virtually all such cases, the white of the eye is similarly discolored. But a pair of Cincinnati ophthalmologists were puzzled when a patient appeared with a yellow glow all over his face and body, extending even to his palms and soles. The whites of his eyes, however, were unaffected, thus ruling out liver disease. It turned out, report Drs. Ira A. Abrahamson Sr. and Jr. in the A.M.A.'s Archives of Ophthalmology, that the man knew he had cataracts. Like night fighter pilots who believe that carrots speed up their adaptation to the dark, he thought he could improve his sight by taking carrot juice. Every day for 18 months he had had his wife grind up enough carrots to make two quarts of juice for him to guzzle. He had to have the cataract operation anyway. And when he kicked the carrot juice, his color quickly returned to normal.

"Although not the most expensive form of therapy, drinking carrot juice is probably the most useless, and it should be condemned," the doctors conclude.

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