NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - The Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun reached a $10 million settlement to resolve a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil fraud case over his trading activity.
Dark soy sauce is a beloved staple across Asian kitchens, but some have called it out for its alleged effect on skin tone. But what does science have to say about it?The belief that eating too much dark soy sauce will darken your skin is pretty much widespread across Malaysia and Asia leading some to avoid the condiment religiously.
Some even claim that eating soy sauce after getting a wound or chickenpox will make the scars darker. The logic seems sound enough: dark-coloured food equals dark skin, right? But can your love of kicap really turn your complexion darker?No, eating dark soy sauce will not darken your skin, no matter how much you drench your char kway teow. Here's the thing: if dark-coloured foods actually darken your skin, we'd all have to give up chocolate, coffee, Marmite, black sesame desserts and a whole host of other delicious things.The myth likely stems from a misunderstanding about how skin colour works. Skin tone is determined by melanin, a pigment produced by specialised cells called melanocytes in your skin. Melanin production is influenced by genetics, hormones and most significantly, UV exposure from the sun. Soy sauce is made by fermenting soybeans and wheat. Like any other food, it gets broken down during digestion into amino acids, carbohydrates, inorganic salts and water that your body can absorb.The dark colour of soy sauce comes from melanoidins, pigments created through the Maillard reaction .Now, here's where it gets slightly more interesting. Soy sauce does contain an amino acid called tyrosine, which is indeed a building block for melanin production. Some people have seized on this fact as"proof" that soy sauce darkens skin. However, this compound can only convert into melanin when exposed to UV rays from sunlight.Moreover, numerous other foods contain even higher levels of tyrosine than soy sauce, including lima beans, fava beans, lentils, snow peas, cheese, chicken and fish. If tyrosine in food could darken your skin, we'd all be several shades darker just from eating a balanced diet. The belief that eating soy sauce after surgery or injury will darken your scars is equally unfounded. When you have a wound, the skin may indeed darken temporarily. However, this happens because the skin cells are damaged, which activates an enzyme called tyrosinase, leading to melanin production at the injury site.The darkening is your skin's natural healing response, and it gradually fades as the cells repair themselves and melanin slowly breaks down. The same principle applies to chickenpox scars. The darkening that sometimes occurs is due to inflammation and the body's healing process, not dietary factors. What actually worsens scar darkening is UV exposure. If you expose healing wounds or fresh scars to sunlight, the UV rays will stimulate melanin production in that area, making the scars darker and longer-lasting.Interestingly, whilst dark foods don't darken your skin, certain foods can change your skin tone in a different way entirely. Enter carotenemia, a condition where eating excessive amounts of carotene-rich foods actually can turn your skin orange. According to research published in the StatPearls medical database by the National Institutes of Health, carotenemia is a benign condition where consuming more than 20-30mg of beta-carotene per day for several weeks causes yellow-orange skin discolouration. One medium carrot contains about 4mg of beta-carotene. This means you'd need to eat about 5-10 carrots daily for several weeks to turn noticeably orange. The condition, first described in 1919, is most visible on the palms, soles, knees and nasolabial folds. Dr Melissa Piliang, a dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic, explains that carotenemia is relatively uncommon but does occur, particularly in young children who consume large amounts of pureed carrots, sweet potatoes or squash in baby food. The key difference between carrots and soya sauce? Carotenoids are fat-soluble pigments that deposit directly in the fatty layers of your skin. A study published in PLOS ONE found that increasing fruit and vegetable consumption for just six weeks caused measurable changes in skin colour due to carotenoid deposition.Unlike soy sauce's melanoidin pigments, which are broken down and never reach your skin, carotenoids actually circulate in your bloodstream and accumulate in skin tissue. However, carotenemia is completely harmless and reversible by simply reducing intake of orange vegetables. One important distinction: carotenemia doesn't affect the whites of your eyes , whereas jaundice, a serious condition caused by liver problems, turns both the skin and the whites of the eyes yellow. So feel free to enjoy your char kway teow and wantan mee with as much kicap as your taste buds desire. Your skin colour isn't going to change one bit. If you're worried about scars darkening, skip the soy sauce paranoia and invest in good sunscreen instead. Protecting healing wounds from UV exposure is the real key to preventing dark scars.t potato fries, you're probably safe. The science is clear: you are what you eat, but only in the nutritional sense. Your skin tone is determined by genetics and sun exposure, not by the colour of your condiments.QuickCheck: Are you more likely to suffer from motion sickness in an EV?QuickCheck: Can pandan leaves keep cockroaches out of your car?
True Or Not Quickcheck Soy Sauce Dark Soy Sauce Skin Darkening Melanin Carotenemia Scars Food Myths Skin Colour
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
US shale boom leaves America better shielded from war‑driven oil outages, says ExxonMobilNEW YORK, March 4 — Thanks to the US shale boom, the United States is “well positioned” to navigate energy market disruptions due to the Middle East war, a top ExxonMobil...
Read more »
QuickCheck: Does 'ayam gepuk' style fried cabbage cause cancer?New research indicates cats may offer ways to treat cancers in humans.
Read more »
Setting A New MPV Benchmark: The All-New Nissan Serena E-Power LaunchedFive exciting variants to suit different budgets, starting from RM154,800.
Read more »
QuickCheck: Can your eyeballs detect 'ghost particles'?March 4 (Reuters) - Chip designer Broadcom forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, a sign of strong demand for advanced chips used in data centers powering artificial intelligence applications.
Read more »
QuickCheck: Did two men on a motorcycle shoot at a lorry in Klang?She kicked off her Aut Nihilo tour in Singapore in April 2025 and has performed it in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Kaohsiung and Nanjing.
Read more »
Adopt AI quickly for better service deliveryNEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - The Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun reached a $10 million settlement to resolve a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil fraud case over his trading activity.
Read more »