How Many Carrots Should I Eat To Improve Eyesight? You might have heard that carrots are a good source of Vitamin A and can improve your eyesight. But is that true? And how many carrots should you eat if you want to improve your eyesight? We’ll explore the facts behind the benefits of eating carrots and how many carrots you need to eat everyday to improve eyesight.
DOES EATING CARROTS REALLY IMPROVE YOUR EYESIGHT?
A healthy diet is essential in maintaining good health and bodily function. One of the first food items that probably comes to mind when you think about improving your vision is carrots.
The Truth About Carrots
Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, which the body utilizes to produce Vitamin A. They are good for lowering cholesterol levels and yes, for improving vision. Vitamin A helps the eye convert light to a signal sent to the brain, allowing you to see better in low light.
In Nepal or India, where undernourished people suffer from severe Vitamin A deficiency, vitamin supplements resulted in improved night vision.
If you’re experiencing low vision or any eye issues, visit a specialist immediately for proper diagnosis and treatment. Choose an experienced optometrist like Joel H McGahen, OD, who is an expert in different vision problems.
How Many Carrots Do You Need?
According to studies, it is still unclear how much carrots one has to eat to improve their night vision. Most researches are focused on beta-carotene or Vitamin A supplements, but not specifically on carrots. A randomized control study in 2005 compared different vitamin A rich food options that may help address night blindness in pregnant women. Results show that regularly eating 4.5 ounces of carrots for six days a week helped restore the women’s response to darkness to normal levels.
However, some studies suggest that beta-carotene is not converted to Vitamin A and people should just take supplements. In addition, eating too many carrots won’t help your eyesight. When you have enough beta-carotene in your body, it will not be converted into Vitamin A. The body naturally responds against excessive production of Vitamin A to prevent the toxic levels buildup of the substance.
Eat carrots all you’d like. Consuming green, leafy vegetables high in lutein and zeaxanthin like spinach and kale can also help improve and protect your vision.
Carrots and eye health
It has long been believed that eating carrots promotes eye health and improves your eyesight, especially at night.
Though there is truth to this, the association between carrots and eyesight originated from a myth.
During World War II, British Royal Air Force pilots first began using radar to target and shoot down enemy planes. In an effort to keep this new technology a secret, the visual accuracy of the pilots — especially at night — was attributed to eating carrots.
This led to a longstanding propaganda campaign that promoted carrots for better eyesight. This embellished link between eating carrots and improved night vision remains today.
However, although they’re not quite the magic eye food they were marketed to be during World War II, carrots do contain certain compounds that are good for your eyes.
High in antioxidants that benefit eye health
Carrots are a rich source of beta carotene and lutein, which are antioxidants that can help prevent eye damage caused by free radicals.
Free radicals are compounds that can lead to cellular damage, aging, and chronic illnesses, including eye diseases, when their numbers become too high.
Beta carotene gives many red, orange, and yellow plants their coloring. Orange carrots are especially high in beta carotene, which your body converts into vitamin A. Deficiency in vitamin A can lead to night blindness, which is often reversible by supplementing
Vitamin A is needed to form rhodopsin, which is the reddish-purple, light-sensitive pigment in your eye cells that helps you see at night
Your body absorbs and utilizes beta carotene more efficiently when you eat cooked carrots rather than raw ones. Furthermore, vitamin A and its precursors are fat-soluble, so eating carrots with a fat source improves absorption
Yellow carrots contain the most lutein, which may help prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition in which your vision is gradually blurred or lost.
Diets rich in lutein may be especially protective against AMD
Myths About Your Eyes and Vision
Eating Carrots Will Improve Your Vision
Fact: Carrots are high in vitamin A, a nutrient essential for good vision. Eating carrots will provide you with the small amount of vitamin A needed for good vision, but vitamin A isn’t limited to rabbit food; it can also be found in milk, cheese, egg yolk, and liver. So eating more carrots won’t help improve your vision if you are getting enough vitamin A in your diet.
Sitting Too Close to the TV Will Damage Your Vision
Fiction: Sitting closer than necessary to the television may give you a headache, but it will not damage your vision. Children, especially if they’re nearsighted, may do this to see the TV more clearly. They may, in fact, need glasses.
Reading in the Dark Will Weaken Your Eyesight
Fiction: As with sitting too close to the television, you may feel eyestrain or get a headache from reading in the dark, but it will not weaken your eyes.
Using Glasses or Contacts Will Weaken My Eyesight, and My Eyes Will Eventually Become Dependent On Them
Fiction: Your eyes will not grow weaker as a result of using corrective lenses. Your prescription may change over time due to aging or the presence of disease, but it is not because of your current prescription. You may find it easier to see with the glasses because your eyes do not have to work as hard when your vision is properly corrected, but it does not mean it is weakening your eyes or you are becoming dependent
Children With Crossed Eyes Can Be Treated
Fact: Children are not able to outgrow strabismus — the medical term for crossed eyes — on their own but, with help, it can be more easily corrected at a younger age and can help prevent “lazy eye” (amblyopia). That’s why it is important for your child to have an eye exam early, first when your child is an infant and then again by age two.
There’s Nothing You Can Do to Prevent Vision Loss
Fiction: At the very first sign of symptoms, such as blurred vision, eye pain, flashes of light, or sudden onset of floaters in your vision, you should see your doctor. If detected early enough, depending on the cause, there are treatments that can correct, stop, or at least slow down the loss of vision.
Using a Nightlight in Your Child’s Room Will Contribute to Nearsightedness
Fiction: It has been thought that using a nightlight in your child’s bedroom may contribute to nearsightedness, however there is not enough evidence to support this claim. Keeping a nightlight on in your baby’s room may actually help them learn to focus and develop important eye coordination skills when they are awake.
Looking Straight at the Sun Will Damage Your Sight
Fact: Looking at the sun may not only cause a headache and distort your vision temporarily, but it can also cause permanent damage to your retina — the back of your eye. Any exposure to sunlight adds to the cumulative effects of ultraviolet radiation on your eyes. UV exposure has been linked to eye disorders such as macular degeneration, solar retinitis, cataracts, pterygia, and corneal dystrophies. The most dangerous time for sun gazing is midday and during a solar eclipse. The brightness of the sun is hidden; but the dangerous invisible rays that permanently burn your eyes are not reduced.
Using Artificial Sweeteners Will Make Your Eyes More Sensitive to Light
Fact: If you use artificial sweeteners, like cyclamates, your eyes may be more sensitive to light. There are other factors that will make your eyes more sensitive to light as well. They include antibiotics, oral contraceptives, high blood pressure drugs, diuretics, and diabetic medications.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Eating Carrots?
1. May Promote Eye Health
Vitamin A, in recommended quantities, is essential for good vision, and carrots offer the nutrient in abundance. If a person is deprived of vitamin A for too long, the outer segments of the eyes’ photoreceptors begin to deteriorate. This leads to night blindness.
Insufficient vitamin A can disrupt the normal chemical processes involved in vision. Restoring adequate vitamin A intake can facilitate vision health.
2. May Reduce Risk Of Cancer
Carrots contain numerous phytochemicals that are well-studied for their anticancer properties. A few of these compounds include beta-carotene and other carotenoids. These compounds promote immunity and activate certain proteins that inhibit cancer cells. Studies show that the juice from carrots can combat leukemia as well.
The carotenoids present in carrots may reduce the risk of stomach, colon, prostate, lung, and breast cancers in women.
Some believe carrots may also reduce oral cancer risk. However, more research is warranted in this regard.
3. May Promote Skin Health
Carrots are rich in carotenoids. Research suggests that fruits and vegetables rich in these compounds can improve skin appearance and also help people look relatively younger.
However, overconsuming carrots (or other foods high in carotenoids) can result in a condition called carotenemia, wherein your skin appears yellow or orange.
4. May Enhance Hair Growth
Carrots are powerhouses of vitamins A and C, carotenoids, potassium, and other antioxidants. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the veggies may contribute to hair health. However, more research is needed in this regard.
5. May Aid Weight Loss
Raw, fresh carrots are about 88% water. A medium carrot has only about 25 calories. Hence, including carrots in your diet is a smart way of filling yourself up without piling on calories.
Carrots also contain fiber. In a study, meals containing whole and blended carrots resulted in higher satiety levels in the test subjects.
6. May Regulate Blood Pressure
One study claimed that carrot juice contributed to a 5% reduction in systolic blood pressure. The nutrients present in carrot juice, including fiber, potassium, nitrates, and vitamin C, were found to aid this effect.
7. May Aid Diabetes Treatment
Following a healthy, balanced diet and maintaining healthy weight can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. In studies, low blood levels of vitamin A were found in individuals with diabetes. The abnormalities in glucose metabolism would need an increased need to fight oxidative stress, and this is where the antioxidant vitamin A may help.
Carrots are high in fiber. Studies show that increased fiber intake can improve glucose metabolism in individuals with diabetes. The veggies can be added to a diabetes meal.
8. May Boost Immunity
Vitamin A regulates the functioning of your system and prevents infections. It achieves this by boosting your body’s immunity. Get this immune-boosting vitamin from carrots. Carrots also contain vitamin C that contributes to the production of collagen, which is essential for wound healing. This nutrient further contributes to a strong immune system.
9. May Strengthen Bones
Vitamin A influences bone cell metabolism. Carotenoids are associated with improved bone health. Though there is no direct research stating that carrots can help improve bone health, their vitamin A content may help. More studies are needed to further understand this mechanism.
10. May Lower Cholesterol Levels
As per rat studies, carrot consumption can reduce cholesterol absorption and increase the antioxidant status of your body. These effects can also promote cardiovascular health. Raw carrots are also rich in a fiber called pectin that may help lower cholesterol.
Other eye health tips
According to the AAO, the following strategies can help to ensure healthy eyes:
- wearing sunglasses outside, since excessive sun exposure can cause cataracts. A range of sunglasses is available for purchase online.
- stopping smoking
- getting regular eye exams, particularly if there is a family history of eye disease
- wearing eye protection when working with possible eye irritants or dangerous chemicals
- washing hands before applying contacts
- wearing contacts only for the period recommended by the doctor or manufacturer
- protecting eyes from computer-related eye strain by looking away every 20 minutes at something 20 feet away, for 20 seconds
Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness. People with diabetes should carefully monitor blood sugar levels, take medications exactly as prescribed by their doctor, and manage carbohydrate intake while focusing on eating low-moderate glycemic index (GI) foods.
Early treatment for eye health problems can prevent them from getting worse. So people who notice changes in their vision should schedule a comprehensive eye exam with an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
Warning signs for eye health
Possible symptoms that a person may be experiencing vision trouble include:
- frequent changes in visual clarity
- seeing distorted images
- seeing floaters or flashes in the field of vision
- reduced peripheral vision
Here are 5 foods you may be surprised to find out are good for your eyes:
- Leafy greens: Antioxidants found in leafy greens can protect your eyes from damage resulting from sunlight, pollution and cigarette smoke. Leafy greens also contain lutein and zeaxanthin, which have been shown to reduce the risk of developing cataracts or macular degeneration. Some powerhouses to add to your plate include kale, spinach and collard greens.
- Eggs: Eggs are also packed with lutein and zeaxanthin, primarily in the yolk. In addition, eggs contain zinc, which keeps your retina healthy. Other good sources of zinc include oysters, peanuts and whole grains.
- Citrus fruits: You may think vitamin C can boost your immune system, but did you know that it can also help keep your eyes healthier? Well, it can! In addition to oranges and grapefruits, berries, papaya, green peppers and Brussels sprouts are loaded with vitamin C.
- Nuts and seeds: Almonds contain vitamin E, which helps keep tissue strong and has been shown to slow the progression of macular degeneration. Other good sources of vitamin E include pecans, sunflower seeds and vegetable oil.
- Cold-water fish: The omega-3 fatty acids in cold-water fish like salmon, sardines and herring help fight inflammation and can protect your eyes.