Fruits are an excellent source of vitamin C, especially citrus. -- Positive Parenting

In the 1730s, there was a son of a rich merchant in Edinburgh, Scotland, called James Lind.

He was a medical trainee who later joined the British Royal Navy as a surgeon assistant.

While he was at sea, he observed that many sailors suffered a strange disease.

The earliest sign among the sailors was fatigue.

Then they started feeling pain at their joints, and their hands and legs became swollen.

Their skin was bruised, their gums were bleeding and their teeth become loose.

Old wounds reopened and were more difficult to heal.

Many sailors later died due to bleeding in their heart or brain.

In 1747, while sailing on the HMS Salisbury ship, Dr Lind ran the first controlled clinical trial recorded in the history of medical science.

Twelve crew members with similar symptoms were divided into six pairs.

Every pair received a different treatment.

The treatments given were garlic, mustard seeds, vinegar, seawater, oranges and lemons respectively.

Within only a week, the pairs treated with the citrus fruits (i.e. oranges and lemons) were healed from their symptoms.

The administrators of the British Royal Navy then ordered the distribution of lemon juice to all sailors.

Since then, scurvy was never seen again among the British Royal Navy.

The cause of scurvy

Scurvy is a disease caused by the lack of vitamin C.

Without vitamin C in our food, the symptoms of scurvy will appear in merely a month.

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, which is easily excreted from our body through urine.

It is also known as ascorbic acid and is easily destroyed by heat.

Hence, cooking or processing food at high temperatures will destroy the vitamin C contained in the food.

Unlike other animals, we humans are not capable of producing vitamin C in our body because we do not have the enzyme gulonolactone oxidase that converts glucose into ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

Thus, we require vitamin C from food sources such as fresh vegetables, fruits or vitamin C supplements.

Vitamin C in our body serves to:

If we don't get enough vitamin C, we will experience:

The following groups of children are at a higher risk of vitamin C deficiency:

The daily recommended intake of vitamin C according to age are:

Some of the sources of vitamin C in our foods include: