Alcoholics are also at risk, as well as those with mental diseases or, you know, unusual dietary habits. But back in the day, scurvy was the disease as common as they come. Now since the beginning of the 20th century, pretty much the whole world knew what scurvy was and how to avoid it. But the same cannot be said about its victims throughout the ages. And especially during the age of exploration from 1500 to 1800, where it is estimated that scurvy claimed the lives of more than 2 million sailors. But scurvy symptoms were first recorded as early as 1550 BCE by the ancient Egyptians. And the Greek father of medicine, Hippocrates, described scurvy symptoms nearly 2500 years ago, around the same time that the Chinese monk Sphaxian reported the use of ginger on ships was being used to prevent it.