1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, there's a huge gulf between your standard 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:18,439 Speaker 1: pop culture pirates and the real life criminals who inspired them. Movies, novels, 4 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: and TV shows expect pirate characters to embrace sort of 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: rigid stereotypes, including some with no historical basis, But these 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: narratives tend to get one thing right, just like many 7 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: of their fictional counterparts. The pirates of your had a 8 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: healthy fear of scurvy caused by a prolonged lack of 9 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: vitamin C in one's diet. Scurvy has been affecting people 10 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: since time immemorial. Symptoms include tooth loss, slow healing wounds, 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: and arrested bone growth, and if left unchecked, it can 12 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: ultimately result in death from internal bleeding. So, in other words, 13 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: this ailment is far more danger than you may realize, 14 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: and scurvy remains at large today, with those living in 15 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: poverty being especially prone to the disorder. Many animals, including 16 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: over four thousand kinds of our fellow mammals, never get 17 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: scurvy because they produce their own vitamin C, but a 18 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: handful of creatures are unable to manufacture it. These unlucky 19 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: beasts include fruit bats, guinea pigs, and primates. Like us, 20 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: Scientists don't know why our ancestors lost the ability to 21 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: make vitamin C. Other species use a specific gene to 22 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:40,040 Speaker 1: create an enzyme that's needed for the vitamin's production process. However, 23 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: in the human body, that gene isn't functional. We thus 24 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: have no choice but to acquire vitamin C by ingesting it. Lemons, oranges, 25 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: and other citrus fruits are loaded with the stuff, as 26 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: are fresh green veggies like broccoli and spinach. You can 27 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: also find it in potatoes, tomatoes, and red peppers, among 28 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: other things that actually might help explain humankind's gene problem. 29 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: Our distant ancestors lived in lush tropical areas and got 30 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: plenty of vitamin C in their fruit heavy diets, so 31 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: if a random mutation prevented some individuals from manufacturing the vitamin, 32 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,959 Speaker 1: it wouldn't have hurt their odds of survival because fruits 33 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:23,519 Speaker 1: and vegetables were widely available. Since the mutation was harmless, 34 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,080 Speaker 1: natural selection didn't weed it out, and over time the 35 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: genetic quirk spread. Unfortunately, by the dawn of human civilization, 36 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: Homo sapiens had settled in places where vitamin C rich 37 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: foods weren't always easy to find. But okay, why do 38 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: we need vitamin C and what happens when we don't 39 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 1: get it? Vitamin C plays a critical role in the 40 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: synthesis of collagen. Collagen is a type of protein that 41 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: your body uses to add structure, strength, and flexibility to 42 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: all kinds of different tissues. Tendons and bones derive much 43 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: of their support opacity from collagen fibers. A Collagen also 44 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: makes your skin tough but elastic, and helps blood clot 45 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: and cuts to heal when injured. It also lends a 46 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: hand in reinforcing the walls of your blood vessels and 47 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: your internal organs to keep making collagen. A healthy and 48 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: properly fed human body will burn through about eight to 49 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,799 Speaker 1: ten milligrams of vitamin C every day. That's about zero 50 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,519 Speaker 1: point zero zero zero three ounces, although it's recommended that 51 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: adults eat at least ten times that amount, and if 52 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: that sounds like a small number, it kind of is. 53 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: You can get your daily recommended intake by eating an 54 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: orange or a cup worth about two hundred and fifty 55 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: milli liters of fruit or vegetables like strawberries, bell pepper, 56 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: or brussels sprouts, and fruits and veggies aren't the only 57 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: place you can get vitamin C. A case in point 58 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: many of the Arctics indigenous peoples who for millennia subsisted 59 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: on traditional meat based diets with very few vegetables and fruits, 60 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: but they rarely experienced scurvy outbreaks because it turns out 61 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: that some raw meats are a pretty good source of 62 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: vitamin C, and lots of organ meat like caribou liver, 63 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: is naturally rich in it. However, you get your vitamin C, 64 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: your bloodstream is really good at distributing it around the body. 65 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,840 Speaker 1: But if you go sixty to ninety days without ingesting 66 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: any and your internal supply dips too low, a scurvy 67 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: will begin to take hold. At first, it's hardly noticeable. 68 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: In the early stages, a person will feel lethargic, a weak, 69 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 1: and achy. They may also experience weight loss and a 70 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: reduced appetite. As time wears on, symptoms get more grotesque 71 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: unless the person writes the ship by ingesting more vitamin C. 72 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: Unchecked scurvy causes the gums to swell, bleed, and loosen 73 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,840 Speaker 1: the teeth at their roots. A pain breaks out in 74 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: the joints and muscles. The skin loses its ability to 75 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: form scar tissue, so old wounds may reopen and new 76 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: ones will refuse to hear. Internal bleeding causes splotchy marks 77 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:07,039 Speaker 1: to appear under the skin, and deeper down the bones 78 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: themselves will become weak. If the disorder isn't treated, a 79 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: fevers arise and gangrene sets in. Slowly but surely. The 80 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: person will die, often as the result of a fatal 81 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: hemorrhage in the heart or brain. The explorer Robert Falcon 82 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: Scott wrote that once late stage scurvy has taken hold, quote, 83 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: death is a merciful release. Scott famously died in the 84 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: Antarctic in nineteen twelve, by which time scurvy had been 85 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 1: a global nuisance for thousands of years. Hippocrates was aware 86 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,119 Speaker 1: of it, and an Egyptian document written in fifteen hundred 87 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,560 Speaker 1: BCE describes the malady symptoms. A scurvy was prevalent during 88 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,799 Speaker 1: the Crusades, when armies were made to march across vast 89 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: distances with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables. It 90 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,480 Speaker 1: also claimed a number of lives during the Irish potato 91 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: famine and the American Civil War. Early seafarers like the 92 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: Phoenicians and the Vikings carried fresh food on voyages, and 93 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: they didn't report the disease. However, scurvy became associated with 94 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: sailing when between around fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred CE, 95 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:19,599 Speaker 1: some two million sailors died of it. Scurvy was the 96 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: leading cause of naval death at the time, outstripping battles 97 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: and disasters. This was due to the poor diet of 98 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: colonial era sailors. They ate mainly food that wouldn't spoil 99 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:35,039 Speaker 1: on long voyages, like salted meats, hard biscuits, beer, and peas, 100 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:39,119 Speaker 1: no fresh fruits or veggies on the menu. A living 101 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: conditions aboard ship were also cramped and damp, which worsened 102 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: the disease, as research has shown that people need more 103 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:50,919 Speaker 1: vitamin C in cold, damp conditions. The affliction's prevalence on 104 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: the high seas started to decline after seventeen forty seven, 105 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: which is when Scottish position James Lynde conducted the world's 106 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: first clinical trial to demonstrate that lemons and oranges could 107 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: cure scurvy. He gave different groups of sailors a variety 108 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: of treatments for scurvy, and the citrus eating group was 109 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,119 Speaker 1: the only one to recover. Although Lynde wasn't the first 110 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: person to suggest citrus as a cure, his published writings 111 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: have been credited with spreading the knowledge. Some forty years later, 112 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety five, the British Navy finally decreed that 113 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: each sailor be given a daily ration of lemon juice. 114 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: A later lime juice, and scurvy started to disappear from 115 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: its fleet. Yet, despite the breakthroughs of lind and other researchers, 116 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:40,679 Speaker 1: scurvy was never completely eradicated. Around the world, scurvy cases 117 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: tend to pop up in communities where residents don't have 118 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: reliable access to foods that are rich in vitamin C. 119 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: For example, following a drought in twenty seventeen, an outbreak 120 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: of the disorder occurred in Kenya. It's also been reported 121 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: that a full ninety five percent of the houseless population 122 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: in Paris, France, is vitamin C deficient and therefore vulnerable. 123 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: Over in the United Kingdom, the rate of scurvy related 124 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: hospital admissions rose by twenty seven percent between twenty nine 125 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: and twenty fourteen with a corresponding increase in malnutrition, and 126 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: in recent years, multiple cases of scurvy have been documented 127 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: within the United States, usually in low income populations a children, 128 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: elderly people, people with food allergies, and crash dieters may 129 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: also be at risk of developing scurvy. But there is 130 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: good news. Scurvy isn't hard to treat. Post diagnosis, it 131 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: could be remedied by increasing the patient's supply vitamin C. 132 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: One can usually expect to make a complete recovery after 133 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: about three months, and bleeding in the gums and skin 134 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: can stop and as little as twenty four hours after 135 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: receiving treatment. Today's episode is based on the article Scurvy, 136 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: The Scourge of the High Seas Remains at Large Today 137 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,719 Speaker 1: on House Tofforkstyle, written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is 138 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com, 139 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: and it is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts 140 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,479 Speaker 1: from my heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 141 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.