A carrot a day keeps the enemy at bay

Just ask the Britts…

“Eat your carrots! You don’t want to wear spectacles like me when you’re a grown-up!” was Mom’s mantra.

I did. I ate all my carrots, every time! And yet here I am, a grown-up, with spectacles. Where did it all go wrong then? Are carrots not supposed to make your eyesight better?

The answer to that question is a bit blurry.

Carrots contain a plethora of stuff that is good or you, including for your eyes, but the idea that carrots make you see better was a very clever ruse to pull the wool over the German army’s eyes. A lot of World War II was fought in the dead of night. A lot of German aircraft were downed by the Royal Airforce in the dead of night. How did they see them coming? By eating lots of carrots and improving their night vision of course. That was the story anyway. A story to cover up the use of radar, or rather, a new form of radar — on-board Airborne Interception radar — that was able to detect the Luftwaffe before they reached the English Channel. To keep this under wraps, The Ministry of Information provided another reason for their success: carrots.

The British public took the bait as well, believing that their vision would be better during the citywide blackouts, a tactic used by the British Government to protect their citizens against the night-time raids. Advertisements with the phrases “Carrots keep you healthy and help you see in a blackout” and “Eat carrots…rich in vitamin A, essential for night sight” sprang up all over the country.

And so, the myth was born.

“Somewhere on the journey the message that carrots are good for your eyes became disfigured into improving eyesight,” says John Stolarczyk, curator of the World Carrot Museum (yes, that is a real thing!).

So, are they good for your eyes, or not?

Yes, they are! The Ministry didn’t make that part up. They used a lot of artistic license, but they weren’t wrong.

Carrots contain beta carotene and lutein which are antioxidants that help prevent eye damage caused by free radicals.

Orange carrots have high concentrations of beta carotene, that is converted to vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential to produce rhodopsin, a protein in the eye that helps you see in the dark. A deficiency in vitamin eye can lead to night blindness, so eating carrots can help prevent night blindness, but will not necessarily make you see better at night, if you already have good night vision.

Yellow carrots contain more lutein, which is helpful in preventing age related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition that is characterized by blurry vision, or a total loss of vision.

There you have it, clear as day, or is it night…?

So, next time your mom says that you should eat your carrots, stop arguing, and just eat them. The Army might have made it popular, but your mom is always right.