When I was at school we were told that during the Second World War British military intelligence put about the rumour that RAF pilots ate carrots to improve their eyesight.  This was the reason that the RAF was so successful during the Battle of Britain.  Whereas, of course, the real reason was the British had developed radar and did not want the Germans to find out.    But in fact carrots, it now seems, are good for the eyes (especially for night vision).  And this is because of because of vitamin A. In fact this is the second in our series of blogs about vitamins and their role in a healthy lifestyle.

Our first blog looked at vitamin D – you can read it at https://patienttalk.org/?p=300. Before we go into more detail it is worth saying that while Vitamin A has a wide variety of functions in our bodies that main danger of Vitamin A deficiency is to our vision.  It has been estimated that between 250,000-500,000 children may go blind because of a lack of Vitamin A.  A related feature of  Vitamin A deficiency is night blindness or Nyctalopia.  This means that the patient has difficulty adjusting their sight when darkness falls.

But there are many other things that Vitamin A brings to the health party than just improved vision.  Among many things it is used by our bodies to:-

a)      Form blood cells

b)      Treat acne and is generally good for the skin.

c)       Help foetal development during pregnancy and is good for breast milk production.

d)      Boost the immune system

e)      Has an antioxidant function.  For more information on antioxidants please have a look at our previous blog on the subject – https://patienttalk.org/?p=252

To make sure you get adequate Vitamin A there are a number of different foods to look out for:- a)      Carrots

b)      Green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach.

c)       Milk and Eggs

d)      Liver but especially cod liver oil.

e)      Tomatoes

And good news for me is that Sweet potatoes come highly recommended. It is worth bearing in mind that carrots, if taken to excess, have an interesting side effect.  They can turn you orange.  Or so the old wives tale goes.