While they may promote eye health in the form of vitamin A, the fact that people believe eating carrots actually improves your eye sight at night is a total sham, and historians believe they have finally found out where this myth all started. Historians at Smithsonian Magazine have found that during the times of World War 2, propaganda campaigns were seen all over claiming that carrots actually improved your night-vision. This in turn seems to be the root for what moms would eventually tell their kids to get them to eat their vegetables at the dinner table.

While they may not help you win your way out of a midnight dog fight, carrots do in fact pack a lot of vitamin A, which promotes good eye health. The fact that the truth had been stretched so thin goes to show how that kind of information spread in those days. The campaign was so successful that in fact pilots who were war heroes, having shot down multiple enemy planes, claimed that their success was due to their over-the-top appetite for the bright orange root vegetables.

Playing perfectly in line with the placebo effect, the pilots would have gone the majority of their lives believing this farfetched tale of vegetable enhancement. Nevertheless, they went into battle believing they had the upper hand, which in turn worked in their favor. Mothers everywhere would use this perfect leverage to get their kids to finish their vegetables whenever they were served. They might not have night vision right now, but they’ll surely have better vision.

It’s never too late to repair or start preserving your eyesight, call Eye Michigan (Grosinger, Spigelman & Grey) for more information.

EDIT: We have recently been informed that carrots DO in fact help you see better at night, through the help of a carrot historian. For more information, please read the comments under the Smithsonian article. Thank you.