As kids, there was nothing worse than sitting down for a delicious dinner, only to find that a heaping pile of vegetables had overtaken your plate. Whether there was a certain veggie that you simply couldn’t stand―peas, broccoli, asparagus, green beans―or you were totally against these green, leafy vegetables all together, you knew there was no chance of leaving the dinner table until each and every one of these veggies had been gobbled up.
You’ve most likely heard the old tale that eating carrots can improve your vision at night. But, is it actually true or was it just a rumor moms started back in the day to get their kids to eat vegetables? At one point, the tale reached a whole new level with the UK Ministry of Food reporting that British Air Force troops were able to spot and shoot down German planes during World War II blackouts because of the copious amounts of carrots they were eating, thereby improving their night vision. Too good to be true? Perhaps not! Let’s settle the debate once and for all and explore why carrots are often associated with better vision and if you should really be eating more to improve your vision, and overall health.
The Mighty Carrot
Carrots are rich in beta carotene which is used by the body to make vitamin A. Vitamin A is an antioxidant that supports the function of the immune and reproductive system and can slow damage to cells. It allows the retina to turn light into images, and has been shown to help prevent dry eye and may slow age-related sight decline and diseases. Without enough vitamin A, you may be at risk for night blindness! In fact, it’s estimated that 250,000 to 500,000 children go blind as a result of a vitamin A deficiency. In the developed world, most diets provide enough vitamin A, but those with certain diseases, such as Crohn’s and chronic liver disease, may be at increased risk for deficiency. If you think you may have a vitamin A deficiency, contact your eye surgeon or physician right away to test your levels.
Carrots sound like a great superfood if they provide enough beta-carotene. So, are they the key to better night vision? Let’s explore some of the relevant research:
- One study looked at the effects of eating 4.5 ounces of carrots six days a week vs other vitamin A-containing foods vs a vitamin A supplement. The clear winner in improving eye sight was the vitamin A supplement, but outside of that, most foods performed the same.
- Sweet potatoes have been shown to contain almost 200% of daily vitamin A, much more than carrots at roughly 50%. However, the beta-carotene in a medium-sized carrot can help your body to produce two days worth of vitamin A.
- In the Age-Related Eye Disease Studies, researchers found that taking a high-dose antioxidant supplement was beneficial to those suffering from age-related macular degeneration, but would most likely not be necessary for the average person without AMD.
Eating for Eye Health
While it’s probably safe to say that carrots are not the end-all-be-all of night vision, it certainly will not hurt your vision to eat more of them as the body will stop absorbing beta-carotene if it reaches its max. However, there are better ways to eat for improved eye health. Most physicians would agree that eating a heart and eye-healthy diet is the best approach to your health, rather than binging on one particular vegetable or nutrient.
Studies have also pointed out the beneficial impacts of vitamin C, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and lutein and zeaxanthin in caring for your eyes and preventing eye-related conditions. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that can help reverse the effects of harmful environmental impacts and an unhealthy diet; Zinc is known to protect the retina; Omega-3 fatty acids encourage proper tear function and may prevent age-related eye diseases; and lutein and zeaxanthin work to protect the macula.
Tips for getting the right nutrients for optimal vision
- Vitamin A and Beta-carotene: Consider adding sweet potatoes, squash, cantaloupe, and any other orange-colored fruits and veggies to your plate everyday to ensure you’re getting enough beta-carotene.
- Zinc: Lots of beans and nuts contain high amounts of zinc, including red kidney beans, black beans, and cashews.
- Vitamin C: This antioxidant is prominent in yellow foods, but not exclusive to them, considering that a kiwi fruit also contains high levels of vitamin C. For more vitamin C, considering eating strawberries, corn, bananas, pineapple, and tomatoes.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids: A long time winner for heart-health, you need to eat cold-water fish (or take a widely available daily supplement) to meet you needs. Fish include trout, salmon, sardines, and halibut.
- Lutein and zeaxanthin: Lots of leafy greens are the key to getting enough lutein and zeaxanthin. Make sure you load your plate with kale, spinach, broccoli, collards, and even eggs.
The Full Story: Debunking the carrot myth
While we may never know if the British Air Force actually ate carrots to improve their vision or if they just relied heavily on radar and advancing technology to get a win over the Germans, carrots certainly will not decrease your night vision. However, we can say for certain that eating too many carrots might make you turn orange, but that’s about as damaging as they may get as your body will regulate against excess nutrients.
We would never deny carrots their fame, yet, we do believe in the power of a balanced diet for eye health. It’s also important to keep in mind that most eye diseases are caused by genetics, aging, or diabetes, and living an active, healthy lifestyle can help to delay or prevent some of them.
If you are looking for more information on eating for eye health, visit one of our locations today to speak with an experienced eye carephysician.
To help fight against our childhood anti-vegetable rebellion, our parents would often tell us that eating our veggies would not only help us to grow up healthy and happy, but they could also improve certain body functions. For instance, kids who hoped to grow up big and strong would silently gobble down their spinach in hopes of one day looking like Popeye―the spokesperson for why every child should give spinach a chance. For many other kids, whether you had been in glasses all your life or had perfect 20/20 vision, carrots were always known has the miracle veggie that would improve your eyesight once and for all.
However, it wasn’t until we were older and had grown out of our anti-vegetable phase (or, at least some of us had) that we began to question whether or not these clever adages our parents shared were actually true.
While carrots do pack a beneficial punch when it comes to nutrient content and eye health, these tasty orange veggies alone will not improve your vision. Instead, the nutrients in carrots may play a part in helping to prevent certain damaging eye conditions and optimize your genetic potential in eye health. To give you a better idea of how these classic veggies effect your eyes, we have put together a few different ways in which carrots work to improve your vision:
Reduce the Impact of Vision Diseases
Carrots contain many different vitamins and nutrients, such as vitamin A, C and E, that can reduce the impact of dangerous eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. Carrots also have one if the highest amounts of vitamin A in any kind of vegetable, which makes it helpful for people who have vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of blindness in developing countries, with between 250,000 and 500,000 children going blind from the disease each year.
Promote Healthy Vision
One of the best ways to keep your vision healthy over time is a strong, consistent healthy diet. Developing good eating habits, as well as maintaining proper levels of important vitamins, will help lower risk of serious vision-related problems in the future. The nutrient most responsible for eye health in carrot, called beta-carotene, is a carotenoid. Carotenoids turn into a usable form of vitamin A called retinol in the body after ingestion. Retinol is one type of vitamin A, a group of compounds that act as antioxidants, that removes damaging free radicals from the cells of the eyes and other parts of the body.
Decreases Vision Loss
Whenever you ear carrots, you are taking in a good amount of beta-carotene. This beta-carotene then goes into the liver, where it is converted into another form of vitamin A. It then goes into the eye and coverts to a pigment called rhodopsin. This pigment in particular changes any light that enters your eye into an electrical impulse, which the brain converts into vision. Because beta-carotene is needed to produce vitamin A, a lack of beta-carotene such as is found in carrots, can lead to vision loss in low light conditions.
