Vitamin C megadosage in combination with other therapies, but this does not imply vitamin C megadoses in themselves have therapeutic effect. The World Health Organization recommends a daily intake of 45 mg/day of vitamin C for healthy adults, and 25–30 mg/day in infants. The Vitamin C article provides examples of recommendations from individual countries. None exceed 110 mg/day. Vitamin C is necessary for production of collagen and other biomolecules, and for the prevention of scurvy. Vitamin C is an antioxidant, which has led to its endorsement by some researchers as a complementary therapy for improving quality of life. Since the 1930s, when it
Scurvy and laced with spices. In 1764, a new variant appeared. Advocated by Dr David MacBride and Sir John Pringle, Surgeon General of the Army and later President of the Royal Society, this idea was that scurvy was the result of a lack of 'fixed air' in the tissues which could be prevented by drinking infusions of malt and wort whose fermentation within the body would stimulate digestion and restore the missing gases. These ideas received wide and influential backing, when James Cook set off to circumnavigate the world (1768–1771) in , malt and wort were top of the list of