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How we fell for the carrot vision myth
How we fell for the carrot vision myth
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Sous-titres (223)
0:00
Carrots have been around for thousands
0:01
of years. There are even records of
0:04
carrot seeds from as early as 3000 BC.
0:07
But the most famous thing about them is
0:09
pretty recent.
0:10
>> Better have one of these. Best thing in
0:11
worldw.
0:13
>> Sergeant, you need to eat a few more
0:14
carrots to improve your eyesight.
0:16
>> Mom, is it true if you eat carrots, you
0:19
can see in the dark?
0:20
>> I have no idea.
0:22
>> I don't believe eating carrots will help
0:23
you see in the dark. In fact, in some
0:26
conditions like retinitis pigmentotosa,
0:29
um, taking too much vitamin A can
0:30
actually be toxic.
0:31
>> So, why did we grow up thinking this?
0:34
And where did the myth come from? Well,
0:36
the answer actually takes us back to
0:38
World War II with a story of propaganda
0:41
and secret British technology.
0:45
The humble carrot or dacus kota is a
0:48
member of the apaci family along with
0:50
parsnips, parsley, dill, fennel, and
0:53
other plants that go in delicious soups.
0:56
Carrots find their origin in central
0:58
Asia with evidence pointing to their
1:00
exact birth being in present day
1:01
Afghanistan, but they quickly spread
1:03
throughout North Africa, Europe, and
1:05
Western Asia. In an early book of herbal
1:08
medicines written by Padanios
1:10
dioscurities in around year 65, he
1:13
writes that the carrot seed is good for
1:15
ye painful discharge of urine in
1:18
potions. He also wrote that carrots were
1:20
good for wild animal bites and even
1:22
helpful for people trying to conceive.
1:25
In fact, it kind of seems like the
1:27
ancient Greeks thought carrots were good
1:28
for just about everything but eyesight.
1:30
And it's in this 7th century manuscript
1:32
of Dioscar's book that we have our first
1:34
ever image of an orange carrot. Because
1:37
for centuries, carrots weren't usually
1:39
orange. They were purple, white, yellow,
1:42
and other colors of fancy carrots you
1:44
see at bougie farmers markets. The
1:47
iconic orange carrot that we eat today
1:49
wasn't popularized until Dutch farmers
1:51
bred them in the 1600s. And some claim
1:54
that the orange was chosen to honor
1:56
William of Orange. And orange remains an
1:58
important color in the Netherlands to
2:00
this day.
2:02
From then until the 1900s, carrots
2:04
slowly became more popular. We can see
2:06
them showing up more and more in the
2:08
kitchen, but they were mostly fed to
2:10
livestock. As recently as a 100 years
2:12
ago, the carrot wasn't quite the iconic,
2:14
ubiquitous vegetable that it is today.
2:17
And then during World War II, that
2:19
changed thanks to one ingenious piece of
2:21
propaganda.
2:24
500 German bombers and messes fighters
2:27
roared over the English coast.
2:29
>> By November of 1940, London found its
2:32
nights filled with terror from the skies
2:34
that made sleep above ground impossible.
2:36
>> During World War II, the Germans
2:38
sustained a bombing campaign in the
2:40
United Kingdom called the Blitz. And the
2:42
German bomber planes frequently struck
2:44
at night. But the British developed a
2:46
new secret radar that would help them in
2:48
these nighttime raids. It meant that you
2:50
were more difficult to detect, but more
2:52
importantly, you were able to detect the
2:55
the enemy uh more clearly.
2:57
>> And there was one pilot who made great
2:59
use of this new radar technology, John
3:01
Cunningham.
3:02
>> He was one of the first pilots to test
3:04
this out and he became highly
3:06
successful. He'd actually shot down at
3:09
least 20 enemy aircraft and probably
3:12
more.
3:12
>> Overnight, he became a British hero.
3:15
But there was a problem. the Royal Air
3:18
Force who did not want the Nazis to
3:22
recognize that we'd gained this
3:24
advantage. They came up with this idea
3:26
that if they could secure a wellknown
3:30
pilot, Lee could then persuade the
3:34
British people, he had this exceptional
3:37
night vision because he was very fond of
3:40
carrots and he ate many of them. So he
3:43
was nicknamed Cats eye cunningham for
3:45
his ability to spot bombers at night.
3:47
And the British told the newspapers that
3:48
his uncanny ability to see in the dark
3:51
came from a certain orange vegetable.
3:54
>> There's no mention of, you know, this
3:56
particular campaign and that it it was
3:58
actually having any impact on sort of
4:01
Nazi reactions.
4:02
>> But it did trick the British at home.
4:05
The myth that carrots could help your
4:06
eyesight was spreading quickly. Along
4:08
with the stories of Catsai Cunningham
4:10
that they were feeding the newspapers,
4:11
Britain launched the dig for victory
4:13
campaign. Because the British had
4:14
another vital reason to convince the
4:16
population that carrots were good for
4:18
them. During the Second World War, as
4:20
Britain faced food shortages, the
4:22
government encouraged their people to
4:23
grow their own food in home gardens. And
4:25
with limited space and a difficult
4:27
climate, one of the easiest crops to
4:29
grow was carrots.
4:31
The Ministry of Food put out lots of
4:33
carrot based recipes like carrot trile,
4:35
carrot fla, and even carrot cigarettes.
4:38
And iced carrots on a stick sold at
4:40
candy stores to replace lollipops due to
4:42
sugar rationing. And they developed
4:44
characters aimed at convincing children
4:46
to eat carrots like this guy, Dr.
4:48
Carrot. Combined with the stories about
4:50
cats Cunningham, the myth that carrots
4:52
could make you see in the dark was
4:54
cemented. Today, the carrot's one of the
4:56
most popular vegetables. It's ranked
4:58
fourth in the world behind only its old
5:00
friend, potato pee. Another piece of
5:02
British propaganda that I can't really
5:04
get into, but Google potato pee. You're
5:06
not going to be disappointed. Speaking
5:08
of delicious carrots, this video is
5:10
presented by a delicious yogurt,
5:11
Stonyfield Organic. For over 40 years,
5:14
Stonyfield Organic has been a champion
5:15
for truth in our food system. There's a
5:17
lot of misinformation out there. That's
5:19
why they believe in highquality
5:20
ingredients to ensure that what they put
5:22
on shelves is the best product for you
5:24
and your family. The milk they use comes
5:26
from family farms across the country
5:27
like Molly Brook Farm and Cabbat,
5:29
Vermont. It's USDA organic certified,
5:31
which means no pesticides, no
5:33
antibiotics, and no growth hormones. So,
5:35
when you're on your next grocery run,
5:36
consider checking out Stonyfield Organic
5:38
Yogurt. It's also important to note that
5:40
Stonyfield Organic didn't dictate the
5:42
content of the story, but their support
5:44
made this tasty reporting possible. Now,
5:46
back to carrots. I've heard all kinds of
5:49
interesting myths and the interesting
5:52
thing about myths that last a long time
5:53
is there is a particle of truth to it.
5:57
Yes, we do need vitamin A and other
6:00
things, keratenoids to see better, to
6:03
actually see. I'm not sure they actually
6:05
make it better as much as they keep it
6:07
from going blind if you don't have
6:09
vitamin A. So, it's not so much that
6:11
carrots can help you see better, but
6:13
people who don't get enough vitamin A do
6:15
actually experience some negative
6:16
effects to their eyesight.
6:18
>> They get night blindness. They stop
6:20
being able to see at night, and over
6:22
time, they lose even daytime vision. The
6:24
vast majority of us get enough vitamins
6:27
if you're eating a normal, healthy diet.
6:29
>> And the things that are best for your
6:30
eye health might have nothing to do with
6:32
your diet at all. Multiple pieces of
6:34
data have shown us that people who look
6:37
at phones a lot, which is 100% of the
6:39
population at this point, end up getting
6:42
myopio over time. The two ways to
6:44
prevent it, and data shows this very
6:46
clearly, which is to get about an hour
6:48
of sunlight during high sun times, not
6:51
look at the sun, just be outside and not
6:54
look at any near target. So, if you grew
6:57
up believing that carrots were good for
6:58
your eyesight or could even make you see
7:00
in the dark, then you fell for World War
7:02
II British propaganda. But that might
7:04
not be such a bad thing cuz carrots
7:06
really are good for you. And in that
7:08
sense, maybe Dr. Carrot was on to
7:10
something.
7:17
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7:19
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7:20
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7:21
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7:25
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7:46
all the great reporting going on at Vox.
7:48
The teleprompter from there.
7:50
>> Oh yeah, really good eyesight um from
7:52
all the carrots.
