Carrots and night vision — the wartime myth
Carrots help you see in the dark — a story from World War Two. But was it nutrition, or a cover for something else?
- Claim
- CARROTS NIGHT VISION
- Catch
- PROPAGANDA
- Verdict
- SEE AN EYE DOCTOR
British night-fighter pilots' accuracy was credited to eating carrots — but it was really a cover story for the secret radar in their planes.
Carrots contain beta-carotene, which your body turns into vitamin A — needed to make rhodopsin, the pigment for dim-light vision. But only if you're deficient.
Vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness, and supplements help the deficient. Extra carrots won't give super night vision to someone with normal vision.
The catch: the night-vision claim was World War Two propaganda for radar. Vitamin A matters only up to sufficiency — more carrots won't improve night vision in healthy eyes.
SOURCES
- Imperial War Museums / Royal Air Force. The carrot myth: radar, not carrots, explained RAF night-fighter success in the Second World War.
- World Health Organization. Vitamin A deficiency and night blindness. who.int.
For information only, not medical advice. See an eye doctor for vision changes.
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