Carrots and Eyesight Turns Out to Be a Rumor of War

Video traces fascinating history of an old axiom.

A new video from the American Chemical Society gets into the fascinating history of the old axiom that carrots are good for eyesight. “In World War II, British pilots had a game-changing new tool for finding their enemies at night – RADAR,” reports the Washington Post. “But if the enemy knew about the … new tech, they’d undoubtedly start working on copying it. So the British military started a rumor that their pilots had high-carrot diets to thank for their new-found night vision … It’s not clear how well the ruse worked on the German forces, but it certainly worked wonders on the Brits: People started eating carrots so that they’d be able to see better during blackouts.”

Read more and see video at Washington Post