Scurvy seems like a terrible way to go: Your gums swell so you can’t eat, your teeth fall out and your brain and/or heart hemorrhages. Fortunately, all you need is an orange to cure you. Or some – blech – broccoli.
# Stuff You Should Know - Scurvy Episode Summary
Josh and Chuck dive into the surprisingly gruesome history of scurvy, explaining how this vitamin C deficiency disease devastated sailors between the 1500s and 1800s, killing around 2 million people with some truly horrific symptoms. They cover the science behind why humans can't produce vitamin C like other mammals, what happens to your body when you go without it, and how a British naval surgeon named James Lind finally proved in 1747 that citrus could cure the disease. The episode reveals that despite being completely preventable and reversible, scurvy still shows up today in certain populations without access to proper nutrition.
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