
WWII Propaganda Popularized Myth That Carrots Help You See in the Dark (2013) - mmastrac
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-wwii-propaganda-campaign-popularized-the-myth-that-carrots-help-you-see-in-the-dark-28812484/?no-ist
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jmnicolas
Seriously I really believed this thing: back in the days when I was practicing
Ninjutsu I ate carrots 2 times a day!

I always thought that it didn't work just because you needed a few years of
carrots eating to get results.

Now I feel fooled and by a 75 yo fake news at that!

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jghn
As a child my parents would tell me to not sit so close to the TV as it'd ruin
my eyesight. I concocted some sort of wacky formula for how many carrots I
needed per unit of time sitting close to the TV.

It turns out that I have excellent eyesight, the only one in the family who
doesn't wear glasses. If it weren't so ridiculous I'd actually wonder a bit
about the effect my formula had.

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ars
So, what's the formula? :)

Might work for people with children, have the kids pay for computer time with
carrots LOL

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veidr
This is a technique that I actually do use with my 4-year-old. He can "buy"
extra time to stay up reading (2 baby carrots), 3 extra games of splatoon (7
baby carrots), and so on.

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talmand
It amuses me to see this pop up from time-to-time in movies and TV.

"And what's with all the carrots? What do they need such good eyesight for
anyway? Bunnies! bunnies! It must be bunnies!!"

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nitemice
+1 for your Anya/Buffy reference alone.

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talmand
My first-born is named Anya.

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fnj
Fake "science". Vitamin A deficiency most definitely can cause night
blindness. In the event you suffer from a deficiency, carrots most definitely
can address it. I have personal experience with this. I couldn't see anything
at all in low light, so I took up drinking fresh carrot juice in significant
quantities, and within two weeks it was like a dark curtain had been withdrawn
from before my eyes.

I have doubts that eating a carrot a day would do a whole lot of good, but I
can tell you that 8 ounces of fresh carrot juice a day definitely does!

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teilo
I think the takeaway is that for anyone who is not vitamin A deficient, eating
carrots will do nothing.

Vitamin A deficiency certainly causes poor night vision because the body
cannot produce rhodopsin. But no amount of beta carotene will make normal
night vision better, and therefore the article is not fake science at all.

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omginternets
>I think the takeaway is that for anyone who is not vitamin A deficient,
eating carrots will do nothing.

I imagine that vitamin-A deficiency must have occurred rather frequently under
WWII rationing. Perhaps this was a real concern at the time?

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giardini
Vitamin A deficiency is surprisingly common today.

An interesting story about Eduard Schwarz, an early doctor/researcher (plus
much about vitamin A) is at:

[http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-
nutrition/...](http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-
nutrition/vitamin-a-saga/)

An Excerpt:

"Eduard Schwarz (1831-1862), a ship’s doctor on an Austrian frigate that was
sent around the world on a scientific exploration. Before his departure from
Vienna, several physicians had asked Schwartz to test the old folk remedy of
boiled ox liver against night blindness. On the voyage, 75 of the 352 men
developed the condition. Every evening when dusk came, they lost their vision
and had to be led about like the blind. Schwartz fed them ox or pork liver and
found that the night vision in all of the afflicted was restored."

More about Schwarz:

[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900797...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900797002037)

Should you want to test yourself, a teaspoon of cod liver oil should do the
trick. Animal-based versions of vitamin A seem to be more efficacious than
their vegetable analogs.

Meanwhile eat your liver(mmmm!), fish, carrots and blueberries.

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teilo
I have experienced reduced night vision to a degree while driving at night. I
now take cod liver oil capsules (for other reasons), and have no trouble at
all now.

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ainiriand
WWII Propaganda Popularized the Myth That the US and not the soviets defeated
the nazi army.

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snowwrestler
This story, and the UFO stories from the 50s and 60s, demonstrate the enduring
power of a well-crafted cover story.

Long after the real secret information is widely known (radar and experimental
aircraft), the cover stories are still widely believed.

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midgetjones
This still doesn't explain why I've never seen a rabbit wearing glasses.

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mirimir
Well, I _still_ love carrot almond halwa :)

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iamshs
One of the best sweets ever. In Punjab, we majorly use buffalo milk, and my
grandma used to feed one of the buffalos special diet of "varhevein" (mustard
seed pith cake after de-oiling), then the milk underwent process of "kaarhni",
essentially slow boiling over an afternoon which gives it a very unique taste
akin to smokey BBQ. We used fresh carrots for the halwa, and make it on open
pit in a cast iron pan. No recipe or method has come closer to that. Insanely
rich sweet.

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mirimir
That sounds delicious!

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bracobama
My parents made me LOVE carrots as a kid in the early 90s by promising that
they would grant me this super human power of night vision and damnit I bought
into it hook, line, and sinker. I'm not sure if carrots would be my favourite
vegetable today if it wasn't for this propaganda.

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lazyjones
How about cannabis then?

[http://hightimes.com/medicinal/new-study-suggests-
cannabis-i...](http://hightimes.com/medicinal/new-study-suggests-cannabis-
improves-night-vision/)

