We often heard of “Eat more carrots, they are good for your eyes!” Question is, are they really good for our eyes?

YES, carrots are good for our eyes, but they are less likely to cure existing diseases. They certainly will not give us the night-vision superpowers that we secretly hope for, but they certainly have some health benefits. The truth is, there is a truly beneficial relationship between carrots and our eyes.

The most typical statement that we heard about carrots is that they can enhance our night vision, which is not totally wrong because eating carrots can help our body to manufacture vitamin A. These vitamin A from carrot is necessary to produce rhodopsin, a visual pigment that allows us to see at night. Fail to get sufficient of vitamin A in our diet will firstly damage our night vision.

So what exactly does carrots do? The answer is actually their coloration. Carrots have bright orange tones to a pigment known as beta-carotene. Beta-carotene serve an important role in human diet. The body uses beta-carotene to make vitamin A that are important for night-vision. Vitamin A helps the eye to convert light into a signal that can be transmitted to the brain, allowing us to see under the low light condition.

As we know, deficiency in vitamin A brings lot of nasty effects on our body, but it is even nastier around the eyes. Thus, failing to get enough of vitamin A will lead us to losing night-vision first. Dry eyes follow after that, then development of Bitot’s spots (opaque deposits on the eyes). Eventually, deficiency in vitamin A will destroy the cornea and ended up with blindness.

So, does eating carrots help keeping our eyes healthy? Absolutely! However, it has certain limitation where it only helps to prevent but not in recovering serious eyes problems. For instance, having serious short-sighted, blindness or cataract cannot be treated by just eating carrots.

Reference:
https://www.rebuildyourvision.com/blog/food-for-your-eyes/facts-and-myths-about-carrots-what-they-can-do-for-your-eyes/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/are-carrots-good-for-your-eyes#carrots-and-eye-health