kebaldwin
Mon, Jul-16-07, 18:16
Sailors And Scurvy
The New Straits Times
07-16-07
VITAMIN C has an interesting history that not many of us know about, one that goes way back to a time when "scurvy" was common.
Scurvy is a condition where your gums swell and bleed due to a vitamin C deficiency. You bleed under the skin and in the eyes. Your arms and legs become swollen. You experience hair loss and shortness of breath.
These days, scurvy is no longer a serious concern. We don't have to worry about it because we can easily obtain enough vitamin C from citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and grapefruit as well as green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli.
In the past though, scurvy claimed lives of almost epidemic proportions in Europe? Let's turn back the hands of time to sometime around the 18th Century...
At that time, sailors went on long voyages that lasted months at a time. Their diet was mainly meat and cereal. Due to the short shelf-life, vegetables and fruit weren't an option.
But the lack of vitamin C in their diet resulted in scurvy. Three months into the ocean trip, almost two-thirds would come down with the disease. Many did not make it through the voyage.
This changed the course of history, because nations in those days depended greatly on the navy. Due to low rations of vitamin C during longdrawn military campaigns, navies were devastated by scurvy and even halved! Between 1556 and 1857, more than 100 scurvy epidemics spread through Europe.
In May 1747, a ship surgeon with the British Royal Navy, James Lind, conducted a test to find a way to keep seamen healthy. He found that by giving them limes (a rich source of vitamin C), scurvy incidences disappeared. It was good news for seafarers. Soon, all British ships were stocked with lime juice. And sailors refused to sail if there was no lime juice on board.
This was how British sailors came to be known as "limeys". The Latin word "ascorbic" - from which we get the word vitamin C - actually means "without scurvy".
Vitamin C helps to produce the protein called collagen. When you are wounded, collagen glues the separated tissue faces together. Cells are held together by collagen. Collagen is also the basis on which bone is formed. So if you break a bone, vitamin C goes straight to work, helping you heal properly.
Vitamin C is also an antioxidant, promotes the absorption of iron and regulates metabolic rate.
The food you eat get metabolised (burned up) and used as fuel for energy and to repair damage from injury and disease. This is why people with infections or colds need higher doses of vitamin C. So do those suffering extensive burns as vitamin C will help the scars heal faster.
To supplement or not to supplement? Weigh the facts. Ask yourself whether you take lots of fruit and vegetables daily? Our bodies do not manufacture vitamin C and we must get it via food. Any excess is expelled in urine. So there is never too much vitamin C in our bodies. Whatever is there is also used up quickly.
Regular supplementation provides a constant source of vitamin C needed by our body to fight diseases and stay in shape.
How much vitamin C do we need? Different people have different daily requirements. Both age and health can dramatically affect individual needs.
The average adult dietary RDA is 60mg, but keep in mind that this is the sufficient level thought to prevent scurvy in an adult. For optimal health or to fight an infection, you may want to consider a higher dose. - Advertorial courtesy of MERCK
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=5607&Section=VITAMINS
The New Straits Times
07-16-07
VITAMIN C has an interesting history that not many of us know about, one that goes way back to a time when "scurvy" was common.
Scurvy is a condition where your gums swell and bleed due to a vitamin C deficiency. You bleed under the skin and in the eyes. Your arms and legs become swollen. You experience hair loss and shortness of breath.
These days, scurvy is no longer a serious concern. We don't have to worry about it because we can easily obtain enough vitamin C from citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and grapefruit as well as green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli.
In the past though, scurvy claimed lives of almost epidemic proportions in Europe? Let's turn back the hands of time to sometime around the 18th Century...
At that time, sailors went on long voyages that lasted months at a time. Their diet was mainly meat and cereal. Due to the short shelf-life, vegetables and fruit weren't an option.
But the lack of vitamin C in their diet resulted in scurvy. Three months into the ocean trip, almost two-thirds would come down with the disease. Many did not make it through the voyage.
This changed the course of history, because nations in those days depended greatly on the navy. Due to low rations of vitamin C during longdrawn military campaigns, navies were devastated by scurvy and even halved! Between 1556 and 1857, more than 100 scurvy epidemics spread through Europe.
In May 1747, a ship surgeon with the British Royal Navy, James Lind, conducted a test to find a way to keep seamen healthy. He found that by giving them limes (a rich source of vitamin C), scurvy incidences disappeared. It was good news for seafarers. Soon, all British ships were stocked with lime juice. And sailors refused to sail if there was no lime juice on board.
This was how British sailors came to be known as "limeys". The Latin word "ascorbic" - from which we get the word vitamin C - actually means "without scurvy".
Vitamin C helps to produce the protein called collagen. When you are wounded, collagen glues the separated tissue faces together. Cells are held together by collagen. Collagen is also the basis on which bone is formed. So if you break a bone, vitamin C goes straight to work, helping you heal properly.
Vitamin C is also an antioxidant, promotes the absorption of iron and regulates metabolic rate.
The food you eat get metabolised (burned up) and used as fuel for energy and to repair damage from injury and disease. This is why people with infections or colds need higher doses of vitamin C. So do those suffering extensive burns as vitamin C will help the scars heal faster.
To supplement or not to supplement? Weigh the facts. Ask yourself whether you take lots of fruit and vegetables daily? Our bodies do not manufacture vitamin C and we must get it via food. Any excess is expelled in urine. So there is never too much vitamin C in our bodies. Whatever is there is also used up quickly.
Regular supplementation provides a constant source of vitamin C needed by our body to fight diseases and stay in shape.
How much vitamin C do we need? Different people have different daily requirements. Both age and health can dramatically affect individual needs.
The average adult dietary RDA is 60mg, but keep in mind that this is the sufficient level thought to prevent scurvy in an adult. For optimal health or to fight an infection, you may want to consider a higher dose. - Advertorial courtesy of MERCK
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=5607&Section=VITAMINS