Carrots really do help you see in the dark; beta-carotene-rich foods help prevent a variety of eye ailments

Your mother always told you eating carrots would help you see better, but did she ever tell you why? No, this wasn't just a trick to get you to eat your vegetables. It turns out carrots really do give your eyes a boost because they contain beta-carotene, which the body is able to convert into vitamin A, an essential vitamin for healthy vision.

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Vitamin A, also called retinol, is key in fighting vision problems like cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration and night blindness. It is found primarily in fish oils, liver, eggs and fortified dairy products. However, if you don't eat animal products, you can make sure you are getting plenty of vitamin A by eating fruits and vegetables that contain carotenoids like beta-carotene, which the body then converts to useful vitamin A, called "provitamin A."

Bright yellow or orange fruits like carrots, apricots and sweet potatoes are good sources of beta-carotene, while green leafy vegetables, especially broccoli, are rich in the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. Unfortunately, some people don't get enough of these foods, and therefore they are lacking in a vitamin essential to their sight. As Gary Null writes in "Complete Guide to Health Nutrition," "The logic is obvious: Without vitamin A, proper vision is impossible."

Vision loss is one of the most feared health conditions, but sufficient vitamin A intake may help ease those fears. Vitamin A helps safeguard sight by protecting against free radical damage that can lead to vision problems like cataracts, macular degeneration and night blindness. While research has linked vitamin A deficiency to a variety of vision problems, one of the first signs that your eyes are not getting enough vitamin A may be episodes of night blindness. Vitamin A is especially important to the rods of the eye, which allow sight in dim light.

In the book "Smart Medicine for Healthier Living," authors Janet Zand, Allan N. Spreen and James B. LaValle write, "The rods are cylindrical-shaped cells on the surface of the retina. They contain a special chemical called visual purple, or rhodopsin, that is responsible for vision in low-light conditions. Rhodopsin is formed from protein and retinol, a form of vitamin A ... if you lack sufficient vitamin A, the production of rhodopsin suffers, leading to increased difficulty seeing in dim light." Therefore, if you are having unusual difficulty driving at night or finding your seat in a dark movie theater, you may want to consider adding some more vitamin A to your diet. The authors of "Smart Medicine for Healthier Living" go on to say that if vitamin A deficiency is severe enough, it could also lead to abnormally dry eyes and even the appearance of white foamy patches called Bitot's spots on the eye's surface.

Cataracts is another common vision concern, especially for elderly patients, that can be prevented with proper nutrition. According to "The Folk Remedy Encyclopedia," cataracts strikes nearly everyone by the age of 75, but this is another problem that can be prevented by adding more vitamin A to the diet. Alan H. Pressman writes in "The GSH Phenomenon" that recent studies have shown that people with a higher dietary intake of mixed carotenes – the vitamin A precursors – along with higher intake of vitamins E and C have significantly lower rates of cataracts. Vitamin A is also particularly important to the elderly, who often don't get enough nutrient-rich foods, because the vitamin can combat weakened immune system function or dry skin problems in older patients.

Although vitamin A is especially vital to properly functioning eyes, it offers many other health benefits as well. It helps fight free radical damage that results from tobacco and other environmental pollutants. Vitamin A is essential for immune system function and helps build and maintain strong, healthy bones. It also regulates cell development and safeguards reproductive health. Vitamin A can also be useful topically to treat skin infections, psoriasis and acne sores. In fact, many acne medications now contain vitamin A as their active ingredient. Vitamin A substances also seem to protect against cancer-causing agents, according to Sheldon Saul Hendler's "Vitamin And Mineral Encyclopedia."

In "Treating Cancer with Herbs," Michael Tierra ND recommends the average person get about 10,000 IU (international units) of vitamin A daily. However, doses higher than that should only be used under medical supervision since too much vitamin A, a fat-soluble vitamin that is primarily stored in the liver, can cause liver toxicity. For that reason, Tierra recommends pregnant women should ingest no more than 8,000 IUs of the vitamin a day.

The health benefits of vitamin A are plentiful, especially in terms of visual health, so if you notice you're having a difficult time seeing at night, you may want to add some yellow and orange veggies to your diet. If it is important to you to protect your vision – and to most of us it is – try safeguarding your sight by eating right. In other words, it's time you listen to your mother, and start eating those carrots.