Your mother probably told you carrots could help you see in the dark in a bid to make you eat your veggies, but there is actually some truth in the old wives’ tale.
Research now shows that certain nutrients can help keep our eyes in good health, including vitamin A – or beta-carotene – found in carrots.
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Symptoms of AMD include blurred vision – especially when looking straight ahead – difficulty reading and being unable to recognise people’s faces clearly.
A study of 5,000 Dutch people, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2005, also concluded that ‘a high dietary intake of beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc was associated with a substantially reduced risk of AMD in elderly persons’.6So, your mother was (sort-of) right all along!
1. Medical News Today. All you need to know about beta-carotene. Available from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/252758.php
2. Gilbert C. What is vitamin A and why do we need it? Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3936685/
3. McGuire M, Beerman K. Nutritional Sciences: From Fundamentals To Food. Available from: https://www.cengage.co.uk/books/9781337628877/
4. European Food Safety Authority. Dietary reference values: Vitamin A advice published. Available from: https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/150305
5. Age-related Eye Disease Study Research Group. A randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial of high-dose supplementation with vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, and zinc for age-related macular degeneration and vision loss: AREDS report no. 8. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11594942/
6. van Leeuwen R, et al. Dietary intake of antioxidants and risk of age-related macular degeneration. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16380590
7. NHS Choices. Dry eye syndrome. Available from: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dry-eyes/
8. Kim EC, Choi JS, Joo CK. A comparison of vitamin a and cyclosporine a 0.05% eye drops for treatment of dry eye syndrome. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18848318