See the benefits of running

New analysis from the National Runners' Health Study (NRHS) suggests that running can lower the risk of glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration. The NRHS is spearheaded by Paul Williams of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California. The study not only found that running reduces your risk of developing the aforementioned ocular problems, but that the farther you run each week and the faster your 10K time, the lower your risk becomes. The study itself involves a large number of participants (55,000), lending further weight to the correlations observed between running and better eye health. For more information about the impact of running on eye health, see: "Run for your eyes" at http://runningmagazine.ca/2009/10/sections/training/the-science-of-running-6/.

So I guess this means that we runners do not actually have to eat carrots! Then again, the whole carrot-good eyesight correlation is unfounded. The truth is that eating carrots to improve one's vision was a red herring created by the British during WWII in order to cover the real reason British pilots had suddenly become better at shooting down German bomber planes en route to attacking England. The British had developed new technology (Airborne Interception Radar or AIR) that allowed the Brits to detect some German bombers before they even crossed the English Channel, but the Brits did not want the Germans to discover information about this new technology. So the British air ministry spread the story that eating carrots had improved their pilots' ability to see German bombers attacking at night. This little piece of propaganda was highly effective and the link between carrots and good eye sight was born.

So, as it turns out, runners never had to eat carrots in the first place. We just need to keep on running, preferably with AIR technology for those particularly dark nights.