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In culture

Despite popular belief, the provitamin A beta-carotene from carrots does not actually help people to see in the dark unless they suffer from vitamin A deficiency. This myth was propaganda used by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War to explain why British pilots had improved night vision which enabled their success during nighttime air battles; in reality, it was thanks to newly adopted radar technology.

The consumption of carrots was advocated in Britain at the time as part of a Dig for Victory campaign. A radio program called The Kitchen Front encouraged people to grow, store and use carrots in various novel ways, including making carrot jam and Woolton pie, named after the Lord Woolton, the Minister for Food. The British public during WWII generally believed that eating carrots would help them see better at night and in 1942 there was a 100,000-ton surplus of carrots from the extra production.