Don't forget your vitamin C!

[Guest guest]

James Lind established that lemons cured scurvy in 1747 but it wasn't till 1795 (nearly 50 years later!) that it was made mandatory for the Royal Navy - and not till 1865 (118 years later that the merchant navy followed suit. Plus ca change! Presumably all this time the doctors were saying to people with scurvy "Don't take any unproven treatment like lemons for your scurvy!"Jonathan Chamberlain www.fightingcancer.com--- On Thu, 9/18/08, robert-blau <robert-blau wrote:robert-blau <robert-blau Don't forget your vitamin

C! , SymphonicHealth , oleander soup Cc: elenoretruman, picchetti707, taxpayerDate: Thursday, September 18, 2008, 2:33 PM

 

Captain Cook lost 41 of his 98 crew to scurvy (a lack of vitamin C) on

his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768. By 1795 the importance of

eating citrus was realized, and lemon juice was issued on all British

Navy ships.

[Guest guest]

Interesting; amazing how something so seemingly insignificant as Limes

and Lemons could have such a profound effect on the Sailor's health;

 

Limes were used because they kept better in storage than lemons; anna---

In , robert-blau wrote:

>

> Captain Cook lost 41 of his 98 crew to scurvy (a lack of vitamin C) on

> his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768. By 1795 the importance

of

> eating citrus was realized, and lemon juice was issued on all British

> Navy ships.

>