Features of carotene jaundice. What foods should be excluded from the diet? Drugs and surgical treatment

Occurs due to an excess of the pigment - carotene. It colors the skin and mucous membranes orange. The disease is called false jaundice, since the pigmentation is not caused by bilirubin, as in the true form. Carotene jaundice does not cause changes in the blood picture and is not accompanied by dysfunction internal organs.

True jaundice occurs due to liver damage or accelerated breakdown of red blood cells. The released bilirubin in the diseased organ does not bind. It circulates through the blood, settles in the tissues and stains the skin.

Carotenoderma is a consequence of the accumulation of pigment, and it enters the body alimentary (with food). The breakdown of food ends with digestion useful substances. But if there are not enough enzymes, not all compounds are broken down. In this form, they are not absorbed by the body, unprocessed molecules circulate through the blood and can change the functions of organs.

For the appearance of carotene under the skin, its concentration must be high, but little child a few weeks of a diet rich in provitamin A is sufficient. The change in skin color in a child occurs due to several factors:

  • excess beta-carotene (provitamin A) in the diet;
  • violation of the rules for the introduction of complementary foods;
  • taking certain medications;
  • non-compliance with the diet of a nursing mother.

Parents and other close people to enrich the child's diet begin to regularly give him orange-colored fruits and vegetables containing a lot of beta-carotene. Daily use such products leads to the accumulation of natural dye and its entry into the epithelium.

The introduction of complementary foods should occur gradually - domestic pediatricians and WHO warn about this.

First give the least allergenic vegetables green and white color, next in the list is a pumpkin. After a while, the baby can try carrots. The timing of the introduction of a new product is 1-2 weeks from the previous one. If you increase the pace, carotene can provoke false jaundice.

Moms who give carrot or pumpkin puree every day, based on the fact that the child likes them, do it wrong. Dishes need to be distributed so as to provide the baby with all essential substances and introduce them gradually.

If once (for the first time) to give large dose(not 0.5 tsp, but 30-50 g) of new puree, this may cause baby reaction.

The quality and composition of the foods a woman eats affects her milk. A nursing mother should limit the intake of "dangerous" vegetables and fruits. Such products are exotic fruits (papaya, mango), as well as more familiar oranges, prunes, dried apricots, apricots and peaches, tomatoes, Bell pepper, wild rose, offal.


In children and adults, carotenoderma may appear due to the intake medicines containing quinine or picric acid. In an infant, the color of the skin changes from daily bathing in a sequence rich in provitamin A.

Symptoms of carotenoderma

The condition is characterized by a change in color skin Oh, but the baby is doing well. Carotene jaundice differs from the true one in that the sclera and other mucous membranes remain unchanged.

Yellowing of the skin and sclera is the first sign of hepatitis, but it is possible to distinguish safe skin staining by other signs. Doctor reassures parents if

  • the general condition is not broken;
  • the temperature stays the same;
  • there is no discoloration of feces;
  • laboratory data unchanged;
  • pruritus is observed only occasionally;
  • the color is distributed unevenly;
  • lack of treatment does not lead to complications.

The skin with jaundice caused by hepatitis has a bronze tint. The color distribution is the same. Urine takes on the color of beer, and feces lose color. Bilirubin circulates through the blood, does not enter the intestines, which is why the stool has more light shade.

With intoxication with carotene. Skin coloration appears to a greater extent on the palms and soles, about thumb and the little finger, on the cheekbones, in the zone of the nasolabial triangle.


The laboratory sign of true jaundice is, for the binding of which the liver is responsible. If the indicator remains normal, the disease is not associated with a dysfunction of this organ.

Carotene, since it is this category that has an imperfect enzyme system. Because of this, the rate of digestion of fats and other substances is difficult. In case of malnutrition, problems often arise: carotene undigested by the liver enters the bloodstream, staining the skin.

Carotenoderma can be combined with Reye's syndrome, the targets of which are the liver and brain. The cause of the pathology is the defeat of viruses that cause chicken pox, respiratory disease or diarrhea. Taking aspirin can provoke the disease. In this case, it is required to start treatment as soon as possible. Delay is dangerously fatal.

Treatment

Diagnosis of jaundice in a child, especially a small one, is often difficult. Any health disorder gives a generalized reaction. To understand the situation, the doctor prescribes a general and biochemical analysis blood and urine.

With excessive use of beta-carotene with products, special treatment is not required. From the diet, it is necessary to exclude pigmented foods, broth, spicy dishes and pickled vegetables. Meals should consist of cereals and pasta, stews and green vegetables. It will take several months for the skin color to become paler, and it takes a year to eliminate the consequences.

The diet must be long-term.

Medical treatment carotenoderma is not carried out, this type of jaundice is the most mild type. A visit to the solarium or a natural tan can help even out skin tone. If itching bothers, the skin should be wiped with water and lemon juice.

Symptoms of carotene jaundice can appear abruptly, sometimes even 1 day, and it will take a year to eliminate its consequences, so you need to be careful about the nutrition of children, especially in the first year of life.

Carotene jaundice is a condition in which the color of the skin changes, but this is not accompanied by organic lesion liver or hepatobiliary system. Yellowing of the skin with carotene jaundice develops against the background of frequent consumption of foods that contain a large amount of carotene.

With the development of this disease laboratory indicators the functional capacity of the liver does not change. Carotene jaundice develops regardless of age, it appears in both children and adults for the same reason: an increase in the concentration of carotene in the blood.

Differences from more serious liver disease

Symptoms for which differential diagnosis between physiological and pathological jaundice:

  1. The skin acquires a lighter shade, the color spreads locally, for example, palms, feet and nasolabial triangle stained more intensely than the rest of the body.
  2. Protein shell eyeballs does not change its color.
  3. The general condition of a person does not suffer, and during laboratory diagnostics deviations from the norm are not determined.

This condition disappears immediately after the elimination of the provoking factor, without causing health consequences.

Causes of jaundice

Very often, people suffering from jaundice are tried to be avoided, because public opinion about the development of jaundice is associated with suspicion of viral hepatitis FROM.

Carotene jaundice develops when overuse products such as:


Some medications containing in their chemical composition vitamin A, can also become etiological factor development of jaundice. From a single use of the above products, skin color will not change. The intensity of staining depends on how long carotene-containing products are present in daily diet person. Yellowness of the skin will pass some time after the elimination of the etiological factor.

What is carotenoderma

Carotenoderma is a disease that develops against the background of ingestion of retinol, which has an irritating effect. It is found in meat, animal liver and eggs.

Excess retinol adversely affects the structural integrity of the internal organs and is accompanied by the appearance of peeling and swelling of the skin.

Symptoms of carotenoderma include:

  • neurological disorders in the form of seizures and loss of sensitivity;
  • clouding of consciousness;
  • subfebrile increase in body temperature;
  • disorders of the functions of the digestive tract.

This condition becomes malignant, depending on hereditary predisposition and how much retinol has entered the human body.

Carotenoderma should be treated with a specially designed diet and medications to relieve symptomatic symptoms. Without treatment, this condition will not go away on its own, but will only continue to progress.

Therapeutic measures

Treatment with medical methods with carotene zhituhe it is not necessary, but consultation with a specialist is necessary in any case. If the diagnosis is self-diagnosed, a mistake can cost a person a life.

The main treatment is diet food, which is based on the exclusion from the diet of products containing retinol and carotene.

Treatment with a diet involves the complete exclusion from the diet of the following products.

  • carrot;
  • exotic and citrus products;
  • parsley;
  • Bell pepper;
  • Soy meat;
  • prunes;
  • apricots.

In order for icteric staining of the skin to pass faster, it is recommended to eat cereals, pasta and legume dishes.

Treatment with a diet helps to get rid of the symptoms of carotene jaundice in 2-3 weeks. If a person neglects the recommendations of the attending doctor, then the symptoms will last longer.

Treatment with ultraviolet and thermal energy has a positive effect on the healing process. Under the action of ultraviolet light, the process of carotene breakdown is accelerated, recovery occurs much earlier.

Recovery prognosis

Carotene jaundice refers to the physiological coloration of the skin, it does not pose a particular danger to human health. If the treatment is carried out correctly and in a timely manner, the positive effect will appear much faster.

It should be remembered that this condition is not pathological for a person.

Accumulation of beta-carotene in skin cells can cause carotene jaundice. You can recognize it by the rich yellow, almost orange color of the body and the whites of the eyes, which remain in their normal state. Due to the fact that the cause of its occurrence is not any inflammatory processes in the liver or the body, this type of jaundice is called false.

The main symptom of carotene jaundice is yellowing of the skin.

The main causes of the disease

Often this disease is called "carrot jaundice"

In most cases, carotene jaundice can appear in young children, but adults are also susceptible to this disease. The main cause of the disease is the irrepressible consumption of foods rich in carotene.

A child may develop symptoms because he or she has eaten too many tangerines or oranges. Overly caring parents cause such a disease in babies up to a year old. They enrich with indefatigable joy daily diet your beloved child like that healthy vegetables like pumpkin, carrot. That's why many mothers call the manifestation of pigmentation on the skin of a child nothing more than “carrot jaundice”.

Along with this, cases of illness in newborns due to daily bathing in baths with a succession have been recorded. This herb also contains carotene in its composition and is quite capable of discoloring the baby's delicate skin.

In adults, false jaundice occurs for the same reasons as in children:

  • too frequent consumption of foods that contain a large amount of carotene in their composition;
  • unlimited intake of vitamins and dietary supplements with a high content of vitamin A.

How to identify carotene jaundice

Most main symptom False jaundice is carotenoderma, a condition in which the skin turns bright yellow, sometimes with orange or green tints.

This is especially noticeable in places where blood circulation is slow. These are feet, elbows, palms, nasolabial folds. In more advanced cases symptoms are noticeable on the nails, human body and legs. This disease does not bring any other discomfort. The tests taken will not show high content in the blood bilirubin or liver enzymes. Body temperature remains normal, urine and feces do not change their usual shade. The white of the eye also remains normal and does not stain. The last symptom is especially important, as it helps specialists to dismiss other types of jaundice at the initial examination, which always cause a change in the color of the protein due to an increased content of bilirubin in the blood. If you notice at least one of these signs in yourself, do not treat yourself, but consult a doctor.

Disease control methods

Based on not a large number symptoms that do not bring a person physical pain and discomfort this disease is considered harmless and is easily tolerated by the patient without subsequent complications. Medical treatment in this case is not prescribed. The main advice of the attending physician will be to exclude all carotene-containing products from your menu. It is easy to identify them - they all have a characteristic reddish-orange or rich yellow tint. Especially carefully parents need to monitor the nutrition of the child, because they can be treated to tasty and healthy vegetables and fruits. In addition to the well-known carrots and pumpkins, you do not need to feed the patient with such products:

With carotene jaundice, you can not eat the liver

  • berries: sea buckthorn and wild rose, plum, watermelon;
  • fruits: oranges, tangerines, peaches, apricots, melons and other bright yellow and orange fruits;
  • vegetables: sweet peppers (red, yellow, orange), tomatoes, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and other vegetables of rich colors;
  • meat: animal liver and kidneys;
  • a small amount of carotene contains beans and green peas;
  • greens.

Also not to be taken biologically. active additives containing vitamin A and beta-carotene.

Most main question, which is asked by patients suffering from this ailment - how long should it take for jaundice to subside completely? The answer is simple - the main symptom of such a disease passes for a long time. Only after two or three months the skin will brighten a little. And in order for everything to go completely, it will take at least 12 months.

Many doctors, including the famous doctor Komarovsky, advise patients to visit fresh air, commit hiking, go out into the sun.

After all, it is ultra-violet rays well destroy carotene. Very helpful to get sunbathing. In addition to the fact that they effectively fight unnatural pigmentation, such procedures increase immunity, strengthen and harden the human body. Adults can go for several treatments in the solarium. Naturally, this is not a cure for the disease, but only cosmetic procedure which helps to even out complexion and body.

It is important to remember that any disease is easier to prevent than to cure. Therefore, do not forget about moderation and a balanced diet, and at the first signs of the disease, immediately consult a specialist. After all, only the attending physician can take everything necessary tests make a diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment.

Video

"False" jaundice. Pediatric advice.

The phenomenon called the term "jaundice" is not an independent disease. It means a lot of symptoms of various diseases, manifested by yellowing of the skin.

Don't panic when your baby's skin turns yellowish. Most likely, this is a sign of carotene jaundice, which manifests itself quite often in a child and, as a rule, does not act as an indicator of serious pathological changes in the liver.

Our blood contains red blood cells - erythrocytes. Their job is to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide around the body. Erythrocytes have a short lifespan, when destroyed, the substance bilirubin is removed from them - a yellow pigment, an excess of which gives the skin a yellow color. By itself, bilirubin is a rather toxic substance.

Carotene jaundice in a child is characterized by the fact that the skin, mucous membranes acquire a yellowish tint. This is due to an increase in bilirubin in the blood. Almost all newborns suffer jaundice immediately after birth, this is due to their physiological state.

The liver of a newborn child gradually adapts to new conditions, its functions are normalized, and the skin acquires its usual color. If this does not happen, the doctor will certainly prescribe a treatment that helps to reduce the level of bilirubin indicators.

Carotene jaundice, as a rule, manifests itself in children due to the abuse of products that increase the content of bilirubin and have a yellow color: tangerine, orange, carrots.

Bilirubin circulating in the blood and formed during the breakdown of hemoglobin is considered "free", it is not excreted in the urine and does not dissolve in water. With the destruction of red blood cells, its amount increases so much that the liver is not able to convert it.

Such physiological state does not pose a danger, but the threat of development is still not excluded convulsive syndromes in premature babies. Treatment of a neglected condition will require much more time.

Symptoms, methods of diagnosis and therapy

Against the background of yellowness, the child often develops severe itching of the skin, which can intensify at night. There were cases when urticaria developed against the background of jaundice. The cause of such itching has not been fully clarified, sometimes it may be absent.

The skin in the presence of this symptom acquires an uneven yellow color, more pronounced on the palms, soles of the feet, the paranasal cavities are stained and auricles. At the same time, the general condition of the child does not change, he is just as cheerful and playful, eats with pleasure and sleeps peacefully.

Doctors differentiate this type of jaundice in a child as false. He doesn't call severe consequences. special treatment such a state is not required. The main recommendation will be a temporary rejection of the products that provoked this condition.

In the case of a diagnosis of carotene jaundice, there are no symptoms of intoxication and liver damage. Despite this, it is worth refraining from fortified juices, citrus fruits and fruit mixes, because an excess of bilirubin can eventually lead to serious disorders in the liver, the treatment of which will require considerable effort.

It is the change in the color of the mucous membrane that acts hallmark when establishing a diagnosis.

According to the level of bilirubin indicators, jaundice is divided into:


The pathological form of hemolytic jaundice in newborns can indicate different Rh factors of the mother and child. She has symptoms of anemia and an enlarged spleen. With hypothermia, symptoms of poisoning of the body appear. The cause of this condition of the child may be viral infections.

Diagnosis in young children causes certain difficulties, because the body of a child of this age shows pathological changes generalized response. With a more accurate diagnosis and for the appointment of treatment, laboratory tests will be required.

Carotene jaundice has a benign course and does not suggest a serious medical intervention. Treatment comes down to diet. Use not recommended fatty foods. The diet welcomes cereals, light soups, boiled vegetables. Dairy and sugary foods should be avoided.

To relieve symptoms severe itching rub the skin aqueous solution with the addition of lemon juice.

With changes in the color of the skin, you should closely monitor the well-being of the baby, if the situation worsens, resort to urgent action prescribed by the doctor. In this case, the treatment consists of phytotherapeutic complexes, in parallel with parenteral administration glucose. Also, the child should receive plenty of fluids.

If your face and hands turn yellow, do not panic, it may be carotene jaundice. But in order to distinguish such a malaise from a serious hepatic pathology, you should seek medical advice immediately.

Carotene jaundice is an apricot yellow discoloration of the skin due to the accumulation of beta-carotene (a source of vitamin A) in its cells.

There are a lot of varieties of true jaundice, and it can occur by the following reasons:

  • Liver cells do not bind bilirubin well.
  • There is a process of rapid decay of red blood cells, due to which bilirubin in high concentration enters the blood.
  • blocked bile ducts, and bilirubin is not excreted through the gastrointestinal tract.

All these causes can cause serious pathologies, external symptoms which - a change in the color of the skin, mucous membranes and whites of the eyes to golden yellow. When they appear, they require emergency treatment.

But there is another form of jaundice - carotene. Its symptoms are in many ways similar to those of pathological lesions liver and gallbladder. But still, the reasons for its occurrence are completely different, and the degree of harm to the body in most cases is insignificant.

Many physicians call such jaundice false.

How is this form different from serious species:

  1. The skin tone is closer to orange than bronze.
  2. Coloring spreads unevenly, the brightest zones appear on the feet, palms, on the cheekbones near the ears and in the area of ​​the nose and lips.
  3. The whites of the eyes practically do not change color, which immediately hints at the likelihood of this particular form of jaundice.
  4. General state corresponds to the norm, feces and urine did not change color.

Symptoms of this physiological reaction of the body to carotene can occur in both adults and children. The reasons for a large amount of a substance in the body are simple - excessive consumption of vegetables and fruits rich in beta-carotene, for example, tangerines, oranges, pumpkins, carrots, persimmons, beets. Also, a similar coloration may occur as a response to overreception picric acid or pharmaceuticals with akrikhin.

More often such jaundice still happens in children. Some mothers and grandmothers, in an attempt to save their child from beriberi, go too far. The same most useful carrot juice in large quantities can cause hyperpigmentation.

And the second reason for the occurrence of such an icteric syndrome concerns the youngest children.

This skin tone can be a reaction to the first time you tried a product with great content coloring matter.

Their mothers and fathers may have similar exotic fruits: I tried papaya on vacation, I liked it, I got carried away, and then my face became color like a tropical fruit.

Children in the first year of life lead to unusual color skin caring parents. Mom offered the baby carrot puree in the form of complementary foods, he ate everything, and the parent is happy to give a healthy treat all the time.

The result is carotene jaundice.

How to get rid of an unpleasant state?

Such jaundice is not classified as a pathology, and medication is not needed here.

How to restore normal skin tone:

  • Completely exclude foods rich in beta-carotene from the diet, abandon the appropriate medications. It is not difficult to calculate vegetables and fruits that affect skin pigmentation: they are yellow-orange or orange-red. It is worth remembering: unnatural coloring will not go away quickly, after a couple of months it will turn pretty pale, but it will take a year to completely eliminate the reserves of the pigmenting substance. It is especially important to control the nutrition of children: one of the good relatives can treat them with delicious fruits.
  • Stay in the sun more often or sign up for a solarium. This is not a treatment, but rather a cosmetic recommendation - a tan will even out the tone of the face and body.

Many experts in the field of medicine believe that this type of jaundice resolves on its own and without consequences for the health of adults and children, which means that treatment is not necessary.