The Carrot Myth

“Carrots improve eyesight”

No carrots won’t improve your vision, this myth was started during World War 2 to hide radars. Food was rationed and the limited sugar had to be substituted with carrots. To make sure German planes never hit the target, the British had blackouts and were still able to pin point enemy planes and shoot them down. So the government agents and military was told to inform people that its CARROTS that help them shoot planes with a good eyesight, whereas in reality it was a Radar they had developed that helped them detect enemy planes. Surprisingly, the Germans bought into the myth and soon Carrots were associated with good eyesight all over the world.

You probably believed in carrot-eyesight myth till today, chances are you’re not alone. Here we take a look at the most common and the most fascinating ones from around the world.

Bananas make you fat-

Bananas won’t make you fat, rice won’t make you fat, butter won’t make you fat, tea with sugar won’t make you fat. As long as you are in a caloric deficit (eating lesser calories than your body needs ) you can eat what you like and still lose weight by keeping a track of the calories you consume and mind the portions you eat.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day-

It’s not. Research has shown that people who skip breakfast end up losing weight than those who don’t skip it. Simple science, breakfast means consuming calories, no breakfast means no calories and voila ! there you have your caloric deficit. Turns out all research companies that earlier stated about breakfast for weight loss/important meal were all funded by Kellogs, and what does Kellogs sell? BREAKFAST CEREAL.

Fan death-

This one is prevalent in South Korea. Sleeping with the fan on will suffocate you and you might die. Some Koreans families used this myth to cover up suicides by blaming the death on the ceiling fan. Some believe that the fan splits the oxygen molecule and that this means that the person asleep gets lesser oxygen. There is no scientific proof to back this up yet people still believe in it. Another version says that this country had energy problems so the government back then decided to spread this myth to get people to consume lesser electricity.

Indeed, brainwashing and myths go a long way hand-in-hand.