If your mom continuously ask you to eat carrots to improve your eyesight, you are not alone. We hear many health-related benefits of carrots and the most promising is its relation with regard to eye health.

Most often, we hear people say, “eat carrots and your eyesight is going to improve considerably”. Usually, it came from the myth in twentieth century during WWII. To hide the fact that British army is using radar to track Germans weapons and aircrafts, they attribute the achievement to perfect eyesight of soldiers who eat carrots to improve it and defend the country. So admirable was this notion that people up to this day believe it to be true and rightly so. Even if the idea is originated as a myth, there are some scientific facts that prove the notion that carrots can, to some extent, benefit the eye health due to the nutrients present in it.

Nutrients

There are two nutrients in carrot that are associated particularly with eye health, the first one is beta-carotene, a pigment that acts as a precursor for vitamin A. it is a well-known phenomenon that deficiency of vitamin A can cause blindness, cataracts, macular degeneration (macula is a yellow shaped oval area in the center of retina), and Xerophthalmia (dry eyes, swollen eyelids and corneal ulcers). The second one is an antioxidant, known as Lutein. Lutein plays a part in protecting retina by increasing the density of pigment in the macula, hence preventing macular degeneration.

Real benefits

Due to these nutrients, carrots do improve health of the eyes in following ways

• Carrots help in prevention of age-related macular degeneration
• Due to certain pigments, carrots create a defensive layer against microscopic organisms and infections harming the eyes
• Carrots also help individuals that suffer from retinitis pigmentosa and impede the course of Stargardt’s disease
• Carrots are beneficial in protection of cornea

Mythical benefits

Besides these benefits, carrots also get associated with improvement of bad eyesight and seeing in the dark. Though, carrots are useful in maintaining eye health but no amount of carrots can restore your vision to perfection. You still need medical help and glasses to fight with the already declined vision. Similarly, if your night vision is good and you can differentiate in obscurity, taking nutrients rich in vitamin A can help maintaining the ability. However, if you have a poor night vision, it is not entirely dependent on vitamin A to restore. Finally, as we have seen that vitamin A is mostly touted as a champion in maintenance of vision, the carrots are not the only food that provide the nourishment. Eggs, milk, mangoes, papayas, spinach, chard, and sweet potatoes also have high amount of vitamin A.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that carrots possess some nutrients that are essential and helpful in well-being of eye. However, restoration of vision and obtaining high visual sensitivity through the carrots is only a myth. People need a proper care and essential foods along with carrots to improve their vision and to protect their eyes.