Scurvy, Vitamin C Deficiency
Scurvy is an avitaminosis resulting from lack of vitamin C, since without this vitamin, the synthesised collagen is too unstable to perform its function. Scurvy leads to the formation of liver spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from all mucous membranes. The spots are most abundant on the thighs and legs, and a person with the ailment looks pale, feels depressed, and is partially immobilized. In advanced scurvy there are open, suppurating wounds and loss of teeth and, eventually, death. The human body can store only a certain amount of vitamin C, and so the body soon depletes itself if fresh supplies are not consumed.
It has been shown that smokers who have diets poor in vitamin C are at a higher risk of lung-borne diseases than those smokers who have higher concentrations of vitamin C in the blood.
Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling and Dr. G. C. Willis have asserted that chronic long term low blood levels of vitamin C or Chronic Scurvy is a cause of atherosclerosis.
Western societies generally consume sufficient Vitamin C to prevent scurvy. In 2004 a Canadian Community health survey reported that Canadians of 19 years and above have intakes of vitamin C from food of, 133 mg/d for males and 120 mg/d for females , which is higher than the RDA recommendation. source: wikipedia
