Eating carrots and plums could make people look more healthy and attractive.

Researchers at St Andrews and Bristol universities examined the relationship between skin colour and their attractiveness, and revealed people with yellow skin were perceived as particularly healthy and attractive.

Ian Stephen, one of the scientists involved in the project, want to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables with pigments known as carotenoids, especially as it took just two months of increased consumption to produce visible results.

They concluded for the first time that yellow pigments or carotenoids from certain fruit and vegetables played a key role in producing yellowness in skin.

To draw conclusion, about 40 volunteers rated 51 Scottish Caucasian faces for healthiness and attractiveness.

Ian Stephen told Grocer: “Telling people they might have a heart attack in 40 years’ time if they don’t eat more healthily is one thing. What we can do is say, 'This is what you could look in a couple of months if you increased your fruit and veg intake'.”

The results will be published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour in March.