08 Jul 2009, Posted by Cat in News, 20 Comments. Tagged research
OK, one more…
and then I’ll leave y’all alone:
Nanna’s rule of eating carrots to boost night vision is doing our peepers more harm than good, eye specialist Paul Beaumont says.
Dr Beaumont has been studying human retinas since 1976 and says the carrot myth, started in World War II, is a "complete fabrication".
"When the English … were flying at night they used radar but the Germans didn’t know that radar existed," Dr Beaumont said from his Sydney clinic.
"The English certainly didn’t want them to know so they put out a myth saying they were feeding their pilots carrots to improve their night vision and that’s why they could fly and see things at night.
20 Comments
July 8, 2009 4:10 am
murasaki_1966
Vitamin A, in large quanitites, is very poisonous to humans. It nearly killed Douglas Mawson. Carrots are rich in Vitamin A.
July 8, 2009 4:16 am
mondyboy
Now that’s cool.
Not sure about all the other ‘research’.
July 08 2009 04:20 am
murasaki_1966 @
Mawson got the Vit A poisoning from the dog livers he was eating as he struggled to get back from the South Pole.
July 8, 2009 4:24 am
mikandra
OTOH, my father used to be in the airforce in the 1950s, and he said that when the mess served carrots, everyone knew there would be night flying
July 08 2009 04:28 am
Cat @
Ha! That's awesome!
July 8, 2009 4:36 am
martinlivings
Here’s one I heard today:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/07/alzheimers_coffee.html
July 08 2009 04:37 am
Cat @
Woohoo!
July 08 2009 04:38 am
murasaki_1966 @
I think I need some coffee.
July 8, 2009 4:45 am
karenmiller
If you want to save your sight eat butter, not margerine. Margerine consumption is linked to macular degeneration.
July 08 2009 04:46 am
Cat @
I don't eat either.
July 8, 2009 9:01 am
jennyblackford
I thought it was polar bear livers that had deadly amounts of Vitamin A. But I suppose in the Arctic if you were starving it was a choice between dogs and polar bears… Apparently the starving explorers ate the livers because they were soft and warm, and could be eaten with frozen fingers and scorbutic mouths far more easily than the rest of the dog/bear.
July 08 2009 09:03 am
Cat @
you folks clearly read much grosser books than I do!
July 08 2009 11:46 am
murasaki_1966 @
Mawson lost most of his supplies (and companions) on the way back to the pole, so he had to kill his huskies to survive. I do feel sorry for those dogs, and yes the liver was soft so that's why they ate it. If you want the real story read douglas Mawson's Home of the Blizzard. It 's a great read.
July 8, 2009 10:01 am
jennyblackford
On the other hand, my doctor told me that I ought to eat two carrots a day to get a good amount of Vitamin A. Tactfully, he added, “Your need for it increases as you get older.”
July 8, 2009 11:16 am
mireille21
Wow, that was very interesting.
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