“Eat your carrots, it’s good for your eyes!” are the things our Asian moms would say.
As kids, we’re often told little white lies in order to be persuaded to do something we don’t want to do… yes, don’t even try to deny it, we’ve all been lied to by our parents.
Photo via Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
But as we grow older, we realise that spinach does not give us superhuman strength like in Popeye, and our eyesight has never improved no matter how much carrots we eat!
According to WebMD, carrots are high in vitamin A, a nutrient essential for good vision. Eating carrots will provide you with the small amount of vitamin A needed for a good vision, but carrots are not the only food that contains vitamin A!
Foods like milk, cheese, egg yolk and liver contain vitamin A too, so eating more carrots won’t help improve your vision if you’ve been getting enough vitamin A in your diet!
So, does eating carrots promote eye health? Though there is some truth in this, the association between carrots and eyesight actually originated from a MYTH!
During World War II, British Royal Air Force pilots began using radar to target and shoot down enemy planes. But in an effort to keep this new technology a secret, the visual accuracy of the pilots, especially at night, was attributed to eating carrots.
This led to a longstanding propaganda that promoted carrots for better eyesight, as reported by Healthline.
Photo via Ancient and Active
But hey, even if carrots do not give you the super eyesight that you want, carrots are still a good source of lutein and beta carotene, which are antioxidants that benefit eye health and protect against age-related degenerative eye diseases.
So, eat your carrots, guys!
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
