Yes and no. Carrots contain vitamin A, or retinol, and this is required for your body to synthesise rhodopsin, which is the pigment in your eyes that operates in low-light conditions. If you have a vitamin A deficiency, you will develop nyctalopia or night blindness. Eating carrots would correct this and improve your night vision, but only to the point of an ordinary healthy person – it won’t ever let you see in complete darkness.
The idea that it might is due to a myth begun by the Air Ministry in World War II. To prevent the Germans finding out that Britain was using radar to intercept bombers on night raids, they issued press releases stating that British pilots were eating lots of carrots to give them exceptional night vision. This fooled the British public, as well as German High Command and an old wive’s tale was born.
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the_better_twin on November 29th, 2018 at 20:28 UTC »
The British were the masters of deception in WW2, inflatable tanks/fake armies/spy networks. My favourite has to be the story of the tramp they chucked in the sea convincing the Germans he was an Army major with classified documents in his briefcase. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11887115
small_tit_girls_pmMe on November 29th, 2018 at 19:14 UTC »
Yup. pilots were ordered to be seen in public eating carrots to make this more believable.
British tactics in WW2 were weird as fuck, but very effective.
to_the_tenth_power on November 29th, 2018 at 18:20 UTC »
Props to whoever came up with this one, because it fooled me into eating carrots for 18 years. Now I just eat them because I actually like the taste.