According to common information, the story of the incredible benefit of carrots for vision is a fake that appeared during the Second World War. During the raids of German aviation, British pilots used the advanced thing for their time - on -board radars, but hid this fact, referring to the unique properties of the carrots they eat. We checked if it was so.

This is what is told about this in article “Arguments and Facts” (Belarus):

“Carrots contribute to a normal metabolism, increases resistance to colds, and helps maintain vision. But the story of the incredible benefit of carrots for vision is the myth that appeared during the Second World War. In 1940, the British used on -board radar radars to reflect air attacks, which recorded the approach of enemy aircraft even in the dark and at a great distance. The presence of radars was kept secret, so the pilots came up with another explanation for their "phenomenal vision" - a diet of carrots. And people quickly picked up the legend. "

Information confirmation can also be found on such popular resources as "Kommersant", The Guardian, nv.ua, Insider and many others.

Some sources refer to a study, the results of which were published In the authoritative magazine Smithsonian in August 2013. The author of the study, the curator of the World Museum of Carrot, John Stoylachik, having studied the documents and the press of different years, compiled the following picture of events.

During German raids on Britain in 1940, the Luftwaffe often struck under the cover of darkness. The aircraft of the Royal Air Force were able to successfully resist the enemy thanks to the new secret technology. On -board radar station (Brles), first used by the British in 1939, discovered enemy bombers before they reached the La Channel. But in order to maintain its technology in a secret, the government of the United Kingdom decided to put into circulation a rather original version of its success - carrots. The fact that the situation was so, the carpenter was convinced by the papers from the imperial military museum, the archive of the project “Mass observation” and the national archive of Great Britain.

It all started with the fact that on November 19, 1940 a young British pilot John Cunningham For the first time in history, he shot down an enemy aircraft with the help of BRLS. The last detail, of course, was unknown to the general public, but it was well known that at the time of a combat feat outside the window was night. After several months of such phenomenal results, Cunningham will earn the nickname of a cat's eye. But this will be later, and at first the British leadership had to come up with a believable one - if it can be called one - a legend. Lord Wulton, Minister of Food in the British Government, promised To the fellow citizens that their vision will be as good as Cunningham, if they eat quite a lot of carrots and cease to complain about the lack of normalized meat. Moreover, how is the easiest to make children eat carrots? That's right: tell them that this is the beloved food of heroes.

It was then that the grandiose advertising campaign began, about which legends still go.

Signature: “Night vision may be a matter of life and death. Eat carrots, green and yellow leafy vegetables. They are rich in vitamin A, which is very important for night vision "

There is no evidence that the Germans bought this trick. According to the carpenter, only tanks reached us about how the commanders of the Third Reich began to feed their pilots with carrots, thinking that there was a share of truth in the news from the foggy Albion. Moreover, there are no strict evidence that the addresses of the tricks were German military ranks. But on its own citizens, this British propaganda worked flawlessly. The people believed that during the trumption (ordinary practice during the hours of German bombing), carrots helps to see excellently in the dark.

*Photo: National Office of Archives and Documentation of the United States*

Perhaps the fashion for “carrot” vision would have come to naught at some point, but soon Germany arranged Great Britain with a food blockade and officials had to start a campaign to popularize dishes from available vegetables. In one of the ministerial releases “Military cooking brochures” were presented with recipes for carrot pudding, carrot cake, carrot marmalade and carrot pie. Each Briton knew what a doctor of carrots looks like - a pretty character that protects people from ailments. Doctor and his carrot family were born thanks to the artists of the studio Disney. In parallel behind the ocean screen struggle Another popular hero of Bags Bannie was led against Hitler - not a carrot, but her big amateur.

Thus, by its glory, “improving vision”, carrots really owe fake military propaganda. But is this vegetable so much for the eyes? Of course, in carrots Contained A significant amount of vitamin A (in the form of its provitamin beta-carotene). StudyIn 1998, conducted by the Jones Hopkins medical school, on the example of 30,000 women from South Asia showed that in the group taking tablets with vitamin A, there were 67% less cases of chicken than in the group that received placebo. However, in 2003, another experience With men, he brought a completely different result: patients who used Carotine for 12 years were indistinguishable in the degree of cataract development from placebo consumers. General conclusion that of these and other experiments Made Ophthalmologists, as follows: vitamin and can help with chicken blindness, but with cataract is almost powerless. In addition, vitamin A can be effective for vision only in case of deficiency of this substance in the body, in other cases it is really useless. And sometimes it may turn out Dangerous - With especially large doses. In other words, carrots in some cases contribute to the normalization of vision (in particular, in the dark), but will not make your normal vision “eagle” or “feline”.