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Orange mucus: causes and treatment

by Alivia Nyhan
Published: Last Updated on

Our body typically produces up to 1.5 liters of nasal secretions every day in an imperceptible way. Mucus is beneficial: it serves to prevent the entry of dust and toxins when we breathe. It also covers the respiratory tract and helps moisten the air we live in.

But what happens when those secretions are no longer normal? Just noticing that mucus is not normal means that its production has increased. These secretions can be of different colors depending on the problem causing them: transparent in case of allergy or irritation, white due to increased irritation or viral infections, yellow, brown, or greenish when it comes to a bacterial infection or chronic rhino sinus diseases.

What if the mucus is orange? This is something rare and uncommon, but it may have an explanation. Next, from FastlyHealwe, we inform you about orange snot: causes and treatment.

Orange secretions due to metabolic problems

In different metabolism disorders (diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, liver disease), most often caused by bad habits, beta-carotenes can accumulate and not be transformed into vitamin A as they usually should. The liver is overloaded and cannot fulfill its functions, causing secretions and skin to turn orange. It also happens in these cases:

  • The excessive amount of fat in the blood also encourages orange snot. This happens because of the proteins that transport fats contain carotenoids.
  • The kidney disease can also cause orange dye in their secretions since the elimination of carotenes urine is decreased.

It is essential to pay attention to the warning that the body is giving through color, in this case, the presence of orange snot: if you continue down that path, things can get more complicated.

However, there is also a problem from birth, in which the enzyme that transforms carotenes (called beta-carotene-15,151-dioxygenase) cannot do its job. This infrequent problem appears as a newborn. It is congenital and will manifest itself with this coloration of the skin and secretions.

Treatment of orange mucus due to metabolic problems

The treatment of all these metabolic problems should focus on correcting habits. They must be drugged while correcting these habits because high blood sugar is very harmful, but yes or yes, you must change your diet, and sedentary lifestyle, which will only lead to chronic disease and more and more complications appear.

Keep in mind the following tips to solve the appearance of orange snot:

  • Increase your consumption of raw fruits and vegetables.
  • Avoid foods that help accumulate fats and toxins in the body: meats, sugar, dairy, gluten, processed foods.
  • Avoid fried foods, vegetable oil, vegetable shortenings. Extra virgin olive oil is the only one that benefits the body.
  • Drink water. Other drinks with sugar, preservatives, dyes, alcohol, caffeine do not hydrate in the same way and promote body imbalance.
  • Get exercise. It is key to reducing fat levels in the blood. 30 minutes a day is critical.

Orange nasal secretions from carotene intake

In carotenemia, the skin, mucous membranes, and different secretions (sweat, urine, nasal and pulmonary secretions) can take a color between yellowish and orange, and this is due to the accumulation of carotenes. This is one of the reasons why you can have orange snot.

Carotenes are different substances (beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha-carotenes) present in certain foods, and they give it its characteristic yellow-orange color.

Foods that contain carotenes

Among the foods that contain carotenes are:

  • Carrot.
  • Tomatoes.
  • Pepper.
  • Pumpkin.
  • Cabbages: Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts.
  • Green leafy vegetables: spinach, chard, lettuce, endive.
  • Boniato.
  • Corn.
  • Orange.
  • Peach.
  • Papaya.
  • Strawberry.
  • Plum.
  • Mango.

It is essential to say that beta carotenes will be more easily accumulated in the body when fruits or vegetables are cooked or pureed. Therefore, consuming these foods fresh and without crushing them will be better.

It is usually more common in young children because they have more difficulty transforming these carotenes until they are 2 or 3 years old, but nothing will happen if they have snot, tears, or orange sweat. Another rich source of carotenes is milk, breast milk, and formula offered to children, which is another reason the little ones have orange snot.

It is not a bad thing, so no treatment is necessary. If desired, the amount of this type of food can be reduced, but replacing them with other fruits and vegetables, so as not to lose the critical contribution of vitamins and minerals, essential for development and growth. The disappearance of the orange coloration can take between 4 to 8 weeks.

Chemicals that can turn secretions orange

Some products can cause skin or discharge to turn orange and produce orange mucus. These chemicals include:

  • Saffron.
  • Dinitrophenol.
  • Quinacrine.

So that this no longer happens, contact or ingestion of these substances must be eliminated.

Orange mucus from antibiotic

One of the most common and striking side effects of the antibiotic rifampicin is that it stains the orange secretions, which stop a few days after the treatment.

Now that you know the possible causes of the appearance of orange mucus and its treatment, you can also understand why secretions of other colors appear:

This article is merely informative. At FastlyHeal .com, we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor if you present any condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Orange mucus: causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our Ear, nose, and throat category.

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