[thedoc (OP)]

Luis Limonta asked the Naked Scientists:
   In a recent show, you have talked about a child that ate beetroot and he had a bleeding afterwards that stained the carpet.

During my mother´s pregnancy, she ate too much beetroot (almost everyday) and the baby was born with a red spot on the arm.

I was wondering if the spot has something to do with her habit of eating too much beetroot?

What do you think?

[chiralSPO]

Most babies are born with, or soon develop a red spot or two (often they disappear or fade as the child grows). This has nothing to do with eating beets. The dye in beets can get into the blood, and is excreted with the chromophore in tact (the original molecule is metabolized somewhat, but the part responsible for color is not) in the urine. As far as I know it does not cross many barriers in the body (for instance, once in the bloodstream, it will not stain semen, saliva, sweat, or other excretions...), so I strongly doubt that it would stain a developing fetus.

[syhprum]

After eating commercial pickled beetroot one often produces red pee that causes a momentary panic about kidney cancer until you remember what caused it