MYTH.
Almost everyone has heard this one, usually from a parent who needed a child to eat their vegetables. Carrots are good for your eyes — it's practically folk wisdom. And it's not entirely wrong. What it is, however, is the result of one of the most successful government propaganda campaigns in modern history.
During World War II, the British Royal Air Force developed onboard Airborne Interception Radar — technology that allowed pilots to locate German bombers in the dark with uncanny accuracy. Rather than reveal the existence of radar to the enemy, the British government invented a cover story: their pilots had extraordinary night vision because they ate exceptional quantities of carrots. The Ministry of Information fed the story to newspapers, published pictures of ace pilots alongside carrot-heavy diet claims, and reportedly even convinced some Luftwaffe squadrons tostart feeding their own pilots more carrots.
The Germans developed their own radar anyway. The carrot myth outlasted the war by about 80 years.
There is a kernel of truth buried in the propaganda. Carrots contain beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. A severe vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness and, in serious cases, blindness altogether. Butas McGill University's Office for Science and Society notes, eating extra carrots provides zero vision benefit to anyone who isn't already deficient — which, in most developed countries, is almost nobody. You cannot eat your way to sharper eyesight.
Carrots are genuinely nutritious, and you should eat them. Just not because they'll help you see better. That part was invented to fool the Nazis.
During World War II, the British Royal Air Force developed onboard Airborne Interception Radar — technology that allowed pilots to locate German bombers in the dark with uncanny accuracy. Rather than reveal the existence of radar to the enemy, the British government invented a cover story: their pilots had extraordinary night vision because they ate exceptional quantities of carrots. The Ministry of Information fed the story to newspapers, published pictures of ace pilots alongside carrot-heavy diet claims, and reportedly even convinced some Luftwaffe squadrons tostart feeding their own pilots more carrots.
The Germans developed their own radar anyway. The carrot myth outlasted the war by about 80 years.
There is a kernel of truth buried in the propaganda. Carrots contain beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. A severe vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness and, in serious cases, blindness altogether. Butas McGill University's Office for Science and Society notes, eating extra carrots provides zero vision benefit to anyone who isn't already deficient — which, in most developed countries, is almost nobody. You cannot eat your way to sharper eyesight.
Carrots are genuinely nutritious, and you should eat them. Just not because they'll help you see better. That part was invented to fool the Nazis.
