WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Do Carrots Really Help Your Eyesight?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel Bomb here with a classic episode for you.

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<v Speaker 1>In this one, we look into the myth that eating

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<v Speaker 1>carrots can give you super eyesight and the propaganda campaign

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<v Speaker 1>that's likely behind it. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb Here.

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<v Speaker 1>Anyone else have the common childhood dream to be able

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<v Speaker 1>to hit clay pigeons with a crossbow in the dark

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<v Speaker 1>at three hundred yards while riding on the back of

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<v Speaker 1>a beautiful pegasus. Just me, anyway, When I told my

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<v Speaker 1>parents this, they told me, Lauren, if you want to

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<v Speaker 1>have that kind of hyper acute night vision, you've got

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<v Speaker 1>to eat your carrots. It's common wisdom. Eat a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of carrots if you want eyes like a jet pilot.

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<v Speaker 1>But do carrots really give you better eyesight? The short

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<v Speaker 1>answer is, if you already have enough vitamin A in

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<v Speaker 1>your diet, probably not. But if you don't, a big

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<v Speaker 1>old sack of carrots might be exactly what you need.

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<v Speaker 1>Carrots are full of a nutrient called beta carotene, which

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<v Speaker 1>is a kind of natural dye for fruits and vegetables.

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<v Speaker 1>Plants to use beta carotine in their bodies as a

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<v Speaker 1>pigment that gives them a yellow or orange color. But

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<v Speaker 1>when you eat foods containing this natural pigment, like sweet potatoes, spinach,

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<v Speaker 1>or carrots, the beta carotene gets absorbed by your intestinal

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<v Speaker 1>wall and converted into vitamin A. So here's the true

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<v Speaker 1>part of the myth. If you want to maintain normal

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<v Speaker 1>eye health, you've got to get enough vitamin A, and

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<v Speaker 1>carrots are a perfectly good source. In regions where people

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<v Speaker 1>don't get much vitamin A in their diets, vision problems

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<v Speaker 1>are rampant. Without vitamin A, the photoreceptors in your eyes

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<v Speaker 1>start to deteriorate, and your corneas can actually vanish. But

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<v Speaker 1>if you don't have a vitamin A deficiency and your

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<v Speaker 1>vision is already healthy, stuffing your face with carrots or

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<v Speaker 1>any other source of the vitamin will not lead to

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<v Speaker 1>superhuman eyeball powers. So where did we get the idea

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<v Speaker 1>that carrots can do to your eyes what spinach does

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<v Speaker 1>to popeye's forearms. Believe it or not, this myth got

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<v Speaker 1>a big boost from World War II Baganda. During World

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<v Speaker 1>War II, the United Kingdom underwent air raids conducted by

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<v Speaker 1>Axis powers. The German left Buffo would strike at British

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<v Speaker 1>cities in the night. Over the years, the British Royal

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<v Speaker 1>Air Force had some success pushing back the German air attacks.

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<v Speaker 1>One explanation for their success is that from nineteen thirty

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<v Speaker 1>nine onward, British pilots had access to a technology called

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<v Speaker 1>on board airborne interception radar to help them spot enemy

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<v Speaker 1>planes for a great distance. But the UK Ministry of

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<v Speaker 1>Food launched a propaganda campaign claiming that its fighter pilots

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<v Speaker 1>could pick out enemy aircraft in the dark because they

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<v Speaker 1>honed their eyes with carrots. Some sources have speculated that

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<v Speaker 1>this story was designed to hide the existence of the

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<v Speaker 1>Royal Air Forces on board radar system from the enemy.

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<v Speaker 1>Another explanation might be simple economics. Germans set up blockades

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<v Speaker 1>to use starvation and discomfort as weapons, which meant that

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<v Speaker 1>many goods like sugar had to be rationed. The UK

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<v Speaker 1>government encouraged its citizens to turn to sugar substitutes. For example, carrots,

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<v Speaker 1>which were plentiful even during the war, could be used

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<v Speaker 1>as a sweetener in foods like carrot pudding and carrot fudge,

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<v Speaker 1>or as a substitute for meat in the infamous Wolton pie.

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<v Speaker 1>Carrots were so plentiful because they could be grown by

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<v Speaker 1>citizens at home and around their communities in a so

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<v Speaker 1>called victory gardens. Food supplies were loaded due to those blockades,

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<v Speaker 1>and canned fruits and vegetables largely went to feed the military.

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<v Speaker 1>Citizens were encouraged to make up the difference. The slogan

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<v Speaker 1>of the campaign was dig for Victory. Two million private

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<v Speaker 1>gardens were constructed and some public ones as well. The

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<v Speaker 1>dry moat surrounding the Tower of London was filled in

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<v Speaker 1>with growing vegetables. Today's episode is based on a videoscript

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<v Speaker 1>that Joan Kormick wrote Poor House stuffworks dot com. The

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<v Speaker 1>Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

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<v Speaker 1>podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.