Will eating lots of carrots really help my child's eyesight?

Eating healthfully will help protect your child's eyesight, and part of eating healthfully is eating orange-colored fruits and vegetables, including carrots, sweet potatoes, mangoes and apricots. They are loaded with vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), which has long been known to be essential for protecting eyesight.

Keep in mind that vitamin A and beta-carotene dissolve in fat (they are "fat-soluble"), so we tend to absorb more of these nutrients from food when there is some healthful fat in the meal, such as nuts, avocado, canola or olive oil.

Carrots (and other beta-carotene-rich produce) may also help protect parents' eyesight as they age. To help prevent age-related macular degeneration, researchers also suggest we eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables (including dark green vegetables like kale, collards and spinach), and low in saturated and trans fat, but rich in omega-3 fats.