We've pretty much all heard about the belief that carrots help you see better (rumour has it - especially at night). So let us have a look wether there is any substance to this myth:
There is no denying that eating plenty of vegetables (including carrots) as part of a balanced diet is good for your general health, including your eyes. But for this myth to be plausible, we'd expect carrots to be sharpening up your vision a tad more than it's vegetable siblings.
Well, as it turns out carrots are quite a good source of Vitamin A [1] and Vitamin A is required for good vision. However unfortunately there has been no confirmed link between Vitamin A and enhanced vision (unless you were deficient to begin with).
So where did this story come from?
Well, this is where it get's interesting; According to a few sources [2] the myth actually arose out of the need to hide the development of RADAR from the Nazi forces during World War II. The story arose when British Intelligence tried to explain away the successes of the allied anti-aircraft weaponry, as being caused by a higher-than-usual diet of carrots of the gunnery soldiers - as opposed to the rather less culinary invention of RADAR early detection.
Still, this should probably not deter you from eating your veggies - For one, they go wonderfully well with steak.
Sources
[1] Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin A and Carotenoids National Institutes of Health
[2] 24 Carrot Eyesight Snopes.com
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