Myth Buster

MYTH:  Eating carrots will improve your eyesight  

helps:“It’s the Vitamin A in carrots that help eyesight. To maintain vision, you need Vitamin A. There is a pigment in the focal receptors in the eye that requires this vitamin. When patients have a deficiency of this, they face problems with seeing in the dark, or suffer from night-blindness. In the 1960s, many children had vitamin deficiencies and would suffer from night blindness, dry eyes and sometimes total blindness because of lack of Vitamin A and Vitamin D. However, we advise patients to eat carrots in moderation, as too much can cause a yellowish pigmentation in the body. Carrots can’t always help with eye problems and they are not a definite cure, as there could be other causes for problems occuring in your eye. Vitamin A can also be found in other types of food other than carrots, such as green leaves, fruits and other vegetables, so patients needn’t rely on carrots alone,” explained Dr. M. Wijetunge, Retired Consultant Eye Surgeon from the Ragama Teaching Hospital.