Do Carrots Help You See in the Dark? Fact or Myth

Carrots improve your night vision and do not help you see in the complete darkness. Carrots are filled with vitamin A that is essential to maintain normal eyesight. They help the eyes to convert the light into a signal which is sent to the brain, this benefits us to see in the dark. If anybody suffers from Vitamin A insufficiency, that may lead to blindness.

“Eat your carrots, they’re good for your eyes!” you might have heard this from your parents when you didn’t finish your carrots on the plate. This is not entirely true.

This myth was invented by the British during World War II in order to keep the secret weapon hidden, written in Robert Buderi’s book, The Invention That Changed the World. Where did this myth come from?

The Story behind Carrots and Night Vision

The usage of the phrase came during the blitzkrieg in World War II. The most dangerous threat Great Britain could face was bombing night raids by the German army. Consequently, Britain had to defeat the German Luftwaffe. The British Air Force succeeded to fight off German aircraft and fortunately detected German aircraft and bombardiers in the dark and misty nights. Did you know how they do it? Carrots! British made Germany believe that they won because of their sharp eyesight at night.

The RAF’s ability was shocking to Germany and they were puzzled how they could detect their flights during darkness. The Luftwaffe could bomb the entire cities in the night but it was avoided as the British Government announced blackouts to give a tough time to German pilots. Even though it was dark in the night, the British were skillful enough to shoot down German aircraft.

The secret behind RAF’s victory is none other than carrots. They helped to prevent the German army to figure out the real reason that it was a state of the art radar system. Britain tried their best to hide the art radar system from Germany. This on-board Airborne Interception Radar (AI) could help find enemy bombers’ locations from far. No matter what, the British tried to protect their secret weapon from Germany and didn’t let them find it out

Britishers began to publish the information about eating carrots can help to see in the darkness through newspapers and posters. They also pretended that British pilots were following the same and including carrots in their diet to take on the Luftwaffe. . It wasn’t important for Britishers if German armies found eating carrots didn’t benefit them to see in the night. Their only concern was the radar system presence should be kept hidden. German culture also included the concept of consuming carrots but the champagne was a failure.

Next time your parents urge you to eat carrots you should eat them because they can improve your night vision.