james lind showed that poor diet could result in scurvy.
james lind showed that poor diet could result in scurvy.
who showed that poor diet could result in scurvy?
james lind
in 1747, the scottish surgeon james lind discovered that citrus foods helped prevent scurvy, a particularly deadly disease in which collagen is not properly formed, causing poor wound healing, bleeding of the gums, severe pain, and death. in 1753, lind published his "treatise on the scurvy", which recommended using lemons and limes to avoid scurvy, which was adopted by the british royal navy. this led to the nickname "limey" for british sailors. lind's discovery, however, was not widely accepted by individuals in the royal navy's arctic expeditions in the 19th century, where it was widely believed that scurvy could be prevented by practicing good hygiene, regular exercise, and maintaining the morale of the crew while on board, rather than by a diet of fresh food. as a result, arctic expeditions continued to be plagued by scurvy and other deficiency diseases. in the early 20th century, when robert falcon scott made his two expeditions to the antarctic, the prevailing medical theory at the time was that scurvy was caused by "tainted" canned food.
vitamin
some animal products, including liver, muktuk (whale skin), oysters, and parts of the central nervous system, including the adrenal medulla, brain, and spinal cord, contain large amounts of vitamin c, and can even be used to treat scurvy. fresh meat from animals which make their own vitamin c (which most animals do) contains enough vitamin c to prevent scurvy, and even partly treat it. in some cases (notably french soldiers eating fresh horse meat), it was discovered that meat alone, even partly cooked meat, could alleviate scurvy. conversely, in other cases, a meat-only diet could cause scurvy.
scurvy