December 6, 2016.
Scurvy is reappearing in doctors’ offices in developed countries. This disease, triggered by a high vitamin C deficiency, which can be fatal, is caused by poor eating habits and too little consumption of fresh produce.
Skin bleeding and general weakness
She was believed to have been missing for decades, but she would have returned. Scurvy disease, which results in severe vitamin C deficiency which can, in some cases, be fatal, has been diagnosed repeatedly and in various developed countries. An observation that prompts the medical community to worry about the bad eating habits that are rife even in informed societies.
At the origin of this concern, an Australian diabetologist, Jenny Gunton, found that several of her patients presented with characteristic symptoms of this disease: fatigue and weakness, difficulty in healing, skin bleeding. Taking a closer look at their diets, the director of the Diabetes Research Center at the Westmead Institute in Sydney, found a significant deficiency in fresh produce.
A disease of the 15th century
” When I asked them about their diet, one person ate very little or no fresh fruits or vegetables, the others ate vegetables but overcooked them, what destroys vitamin C, ”says Jenny Gunton. ” This shows that you can eat a lot of calories without consuming enough nutrients. “.
Australia is not the only country affected and cases of scurvy have recently been diagnosed in the UK and Canada. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recalls that scurvy was identified in the 15th and 16th centuries as a disease affecting long-haul sailors who did not have access to fresh food, especially vegetables or fruit, during their travels. At the time, and while the vitamin had not been discovered, the English Navy had made a habit of providing lemons and other citrus fruits to sailors to help them get through those long months.
Read also: The benefits of vitamin C
