When we were growing up back in the days, our parents or guardians usually claim if we eat lots of carrots, our eye sight would magically improve so much we could see in the dark. I thought this was true for a while, until I grew up and realized I can’t see for dear life in the dark without light. So where did this magic carrot lie came from you ask? The Brits, they are to blame for your disastrous carrot eating childhood.

The truth about carrots is that it contains high amounts of Vitamin A, this means eating a lot of the thing could increase the health of your eyes. However, not so much that you can see German airplanes in the dark of night and shoot them down. If carrots really helped with eyesight that much, then by Odin’s luscious long white beard, we as humans would never require a flashlight in the dark.

So, how did the Brits lie to us all to make us believe such madness? Well, apparently the British Royal Air Force got really good at shooting down Nazi airplanes in the dark back in World War 2. The Royal Air Force accomplished this feat by using a new radar system; they wanted to keep it a secret, so they based their success on eating carrots. Since then, carrots have been the poster boy for good eyesight, and even till this day many still believe in this myth.

The Royal Air Force was able to repel the German fighters in part because of the development of a new, secret radar technology. The on-board Airborne Interception Radar (AI), first used by the RAF in 1939, had the ability to pinpoint enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel. However, to keep that under wraps, according to Stolarczyk’s research pulled from the files of the Imperial War Museum, the Mass Observation Archive, and the UK National Archives, the Ministry provided another reason for their success: carrots.

Now you know the truth about carrots, that doesn’t mean it is time to stop eating it. This vegetable might not allow you to view things in the dark like Riddick, but it is good for the health of your eyes.

[via Smithonian]