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Asked by anon-176722 to Ali on 18 Jun 2018.
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Ali Hill answered on 18 Jun 2018:
Hi ScarlettY,
Thanks for putting your question here. It was a bit hard to explain in the chat!
Yes and no. Mostly no. The idea is that carrots have a lot of vitamin A in them, and we need vitamin A to make sure our eyes are healthy. And if you don’t have enough Vitamin A then you get night blindness – but this isn’t something that is very common in the UK. So in theory carrots could help you see in the dark if they gave you a nutrient that you were deficient in, which is why you couldn’t see in the dark….
I don’t know if this is true or not, but I’ve heard that during World War II the Allies put out this as propaganda so that the German’s didn’t realise that the reason we could see their planes coming was the fact that we had radar and they didn’t. So we told them that it was because we ate carrots….. like this:
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Comments
Ali commented on :
In looking up the answer for your question I also found this. Don’t know about you but I would be unimpressed if I got a carrot instead of an ice lolly….https://www.britishpathe.com/gallery/children-of-war/1
Mark commented on :
Yeh, vitamin A is an important pre-cursor (starting point) for a pigment called Rhodopsin, which is found in certain cells in your eyes (the Rod photoreceptors).
These are the cells that you need for night vision, so not enough Vit A means not enough rods, and so poor night vision.
I don’t think eating a tonne of carrots would make it any better though!
Interestingly, they have a really big problem with “night blindness” in certain parts of the world, where people’s diets are missing a lot of Vitamin A.
If you’ve ever heard of Golden Rice, its a type of rice where scientists have put in the genes that make vitamin A, so the rice is packed full of it, and gives it a yellow colour (hence Golden rice).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice
It’s thought that this could save lots of children’s eyesight in these countries, so scientists are really keen to get it out to those people as soon as possible.
anon-182483 commented on :
so they dont help
Ali commented on :
Not unless you’re vitamin A deficient. Then they’re a good source of it. But it won’t help you see better in the dark, or give you night vision like those binoculars they use in the military or laser-eyes (sadly, otherwise I’d be eating nothing else!).
Simran commented on :
Hey Scarlett
When we eat or buy food we don’t realise the politics, the propaganda and the created image behind it. We do not know the actual cost, where it comes from, motivations of governments and affiliations of corporations. We have become a culture where food is becoming increasingly unknown to its consumers. It is important to understand all of this and then make an intelligent choice of why you eat or buy something e.g. golden rice and carrots.
The point being is it really a carrot or is someone telling you it is a carrot. Coming back to the point of Vitamin A, its deficiency is vital in causing night blindness because we can measure it through science and carrots do have beta carotene that helps synthesise Vitamin A in your body. Rest about the amount I am not completely sure.
Maybe I’ve confused you even more.
😛 Sim