You may have heard the claim that eating carrots can improve vision. This idea comes from the fact that carrots are rich in beta-carotene, a nutrient the body converts into vitamin A.

To understand whether vitamin A really affects eyesight, we talked to Philip D. Kiser, PharmD, PhD , an associate professor of ophthalmology at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at UCI School of Medicine.

*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Q: Does vitamin A really improve vision, and if so, how does it work?

Kiser: Vitamin A, also known as retinol , is a fat-soluble vitamin needed for human vision . It's transformed within the eye into a derivative called 11-cis-retinal, which is the molecule that allows our retina to detect the light that we consciously perceive as an image.

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