There is a grain of truth in this as carrots do provide retinol, a lack of which will give you night blindness. The British especially love eating carrots so during the war they were very good at spotting German planes at night, so good in fact to send the Germans to do a bit of research as to why the Brits had such good night-time vision. Carrots were the answer.

Thankfully today few need to improve their night-time vision to spot fighter planes but eating carrots can still be very useful for early morning runners or for scuba divers.

Carrots are also used as a great cleanser for the liver and to help increase energy levels making them great for athletes in training or anyone wanting a burst of energy. They also can be used to help skin problems and eye conditions.

As well as retinol the carrot also contains large amounts of carotene. If you over-eat on the carrots, your skin can actually turn a orangy colour almost like a sun tan, but a sun tan gone badly wrong somewhere.

One of the biggest benefits of carrot juice is you are using raw carrots which contain potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, Vitamins A B3 C and E. As soon as you cook carrots you are destroying lots of these vital ingredients.

The benefits of Carrot Juice:

• potassium - helps cell function and blood pressure
• calcium - helps bone formation and prevention of osteoporosis
• iron - helps carry oxygen in the red blood cells
• zinc - helps growth, hormone function, immunity, liver function
• vitamins A - helps with night vision
• vitamins B3 - helps with nerve function
• vitamins C - helps immunity, healing, protects against heart disease
• vitamins E - helps protects the heart and has gives some protection towards cancer

Carrots can be stored in a refrigerator or in a cool place for up to 2 weeks.

Let's start juicing!

1 medium carrot will produce about 50ml of juice

---

Carrot Salad Juice

• 2 carrots
• 1 orange
• 1 apple

Peel the orange before placing all the ingredients into a juicer. Serve in a glass with ice

---

Carrot Ginger Juice

• 2 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1cm fresh root ginger

Place all ingredients into a juicer and serve in a long glass

---

Carrots with Beets

• 2 carrots
• 1 beetroot
• 1 apple
• 2cm fresh ginger root

Juice ingredients together and serve in a glass Squeeze a little lime juice into the glass for an extra zingy taste