Carrots: The Vegetable That Lies

Sitting at the dinner table most children are told constantly to finish the vegetables on their plate. Whether they were peas, potatoes, or parsnips, the importance of vegetables became a constant in our nutritional education. The food pyramid displayed the block dedicated to vegetables to create a balanced diet and there were various ways our parents convinced us that we had to eat them. One of the most common things we have heard over the years is that carrots are good for our vision but are they actually?

The simple answer is yes but not exclusively and not all your eyesight. Vitamin A is the vitamin responsible for helping to improve your sight, but its main effect is that it helps you see better in low light. So, increasing your Vitamin A might increase your vision at night but there probably will not be as much difference in the day. Carrots have a high content of beta-carotene which is what the body uses to convert Vitamin A. Some studies have shown that a high increase in consuming carrots will improve your nighttime vision but that is all about it. Furthermore, you must be careful that you are not overly consuming carrots. Like any other level in your body, if your levels of beta-carotene are too high then your body will begin to treat it as toxic and will not convert it into Vitamin A which means it will not help your vision at all.

It is more important to just ensure that you do not have a Vitamin A deficiency which can in fact lead to blindness. A balanced diet can help to ensure this without being exclusive to carrots. In fact, most doctors recommend that green, leafy vegetables are the best things to eat for healthy vitamins in your food. Studies have shown that if you are Vitamin A deficient then your best bet would be to take Vitamin A supplements instead of gorging yourself on any kind of vegetable. Vegetables are just a healthy part of your balanced diet, so the body needs them to keep up with the general regulation of all vitamins not just Vitamin A.

So why did we grow up being told that carrots were important to good eyesight? Well, one faction of this probably depends on your family life. If you did not want to eat your vegetables, this was an easy myth for your parents to try to convince you. The myth itself is traced back to World War II. At the time British Royal Air Force was using brand new radar technology to shoot down enemy warcraft. To hide the technology, the U.K. Ministry of Food circulated propaganda that carrots were the cause of the pilots’ success to avoid scrutiny of their warfare. The Royal Air Force Museum believes that the rumor may have been started by someone else and they just used it to their advantage since it would have been simple enough for the opposers to figure out their new radar system. However, the trace of the myth ends with them and no other proof has come out that they were not the source of the myth.

In short, carrots are good for you but not better than any other vegetables you might be more inclined to eat. Sweet potatoes, squashes, and green leafy vegetables can also give you the same health benefits of Vitamin A as carrots. If you are eating a healthy balanced diet, then you are doing a great job looking after your eyes!

Sources Used:

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Dina Fine Maron. (2014, June 23). Fact or Fiction?: Carrots Improve Your Vision. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-carrots-improve-your-vision/

Do Carrots Really Improve Eyesight? (n.d.). @Berkeleywellness. https://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/nutrition/article/do-carrots-really-improve-eyesight

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Look to Fruits and Vegetables for Good Eye Health. (n.d.). Www.health.ny.gov. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/0911/

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7 Ways to Add More Fruits and Vegetables to your Menu. (n.d.). Healthcare.utah.edu. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2021/03/more-fruits-and-vegetables.php

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