Singer James Blunt has told how he contracted scurvy, a disease caused by a vitamin C deficiency.
- James Blunt told how he contracted scurvy in his youth.
- The disease manifested itself after the singer decided to become a carnivore.
- In industrialized countries, scurvy (also known as “sailor’s disease”) is rare but still present.
Godfather of the Star Academy for this 2023 edition, singer James Blunt has returned to the forefront of the French scene. On this occasion, the celebrity recounted how he caught scurvy in his youth.
By deciding to become a total carnivore, James Blunt got scurvy
Still a student, the author of the hit “You’re Beautiful” was surrounded by many vegans and many vegetarians. “On the engineers’ side, there were 170 men and only three girls, and on the sociologists’ side, there were 170 girls and only three boys. All the young women were vegetarians or vegans,” remembered the artist. Upset by this trend and “on principle”, James Blunt then decided to become completely carnivorous, which was not without consequences on his health.
“It took six to eight weeks for me to be in very poor health and to see a doctor, who told me: ‘I think you have the symptoms of scurvy (…)’. He also told me that I was really lacking in vitamin C. So I decided to drink a liter of orange juice every night and immediately started suffering from gastric reflux. As you can see, nutrition is not necessarily my strong point”, he joked.
Today, the forty-year-old has recovered from his scurvy and has decided to stop his culinary experiments, opting instead for a balanced diet. Always a fan of meat, he now also eats vegetables, fruits and starchy foods.
How do you know if you’ve gotten scurvy like James Blunt?
In industrialized countries, scurvy (also known as “sailor’s disease”) is rare but still present and undoubtedly largely underdiagnosed.
Scurvy generally occurs after three months of total deficiency in ascorbic acid (or vitamin C) which comes mainly from fresh fruits and vegetables. Symptoms of scurvy can manifest as fatigue, depression, connective tissue abnormalities with bleeding and swelling of the gums, tooth loss, healing defects or even a hemorrhagic syndrome which can lead to death.
The diagnosis of scurvy can be raised when questioning the person at risk and then confirmed by a physical examination and a blood test.
