Are you experiencing bleeding of the gums? Are you finding yourself short of breath and looking very pale? Is your hair thinning or falling out? Is there weird activity (such as bleeding) happening around your mucous membranes? Do you enjoy looting and pillaging? If this sounds like you, you could have scurvy.
According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, the disease scurvy has the symptoms noted above and results from a Vitamin C deficiency. Since Vitamin C is found most often in vegetables and fruits -- examples being potatoes, oranges, lemons, limes (citrus fruits in general), tomatoes and strawberries -- scurvy is not common today because of the availability of fresh produce. Although most people do not happen to suffer from scurvy in the modern world, this vitamin deficiency has had a greater effect on our culture than one would see at first glance.
The people who suffered most from this Vitamin C deficiency were early sailors (from the time when Columbus became the poster boy for sailing, attracting popularity because of his obvious sex appeal, to about the time when the steam engine was invented). The mortality rate of men pursuing this sport was quite high -- if they weren't killed by the elements or enemy sailors, they probably died from scurvy. The sailors would "come down" with this disease after weeks at sea and no fresh fruits or veggies. Scurvy rotted away gums and made it hard to chew and eat and, eventually (if untreated), would lead to death. Scurvy is a fun word to repeat to yourself, especially if you draw out the "r" and squint one eye (I don't know what the squinting does ... I think I feel more like a pirate that way), but it was not a fun disease to contract.
When the Scottish surgeon James Lind found that distributing lime juice to sailors prevented this disease, there was a moment when the clouds in the heavens parted and a glorious light beamed down upon his head. Sadly, poor Mr. Lind didn't know that he had started something other than saving lives through medical research. The lime juice that he distributed to the low class sailors brought about the derogatory name for British sailors: "Limeys." The same goes for our term for the Germans during the World Wars: "Krauts." "Krauts" = sauerkraut eaters = fermented cabbage consumers = stinky yet healthy Germans full of Vitamin C. Other cultures dealt with scurvy in a similar manner, such as the Korean cabbage dish Kim-chi. I don't really know how people dealt with scurvy in northern Russia or Antarctica. My best guess would be that they didn't. Add that to my list of reasons not to move to Siberia.
Scurvy has had another effect on modern culture besides being the basis of derogatory names: scurvy has shaped our notion of what it means/meant to be a pirate. It is a given that pirates were dirty and had a rough appearance -- this could definitely have been caused by scurvy. Also, since scurvy causes teeth loss, this could have affected the dialect of pirates. It is a lot harder to say "shiver me timbers!" when missing teeth -- the pirate in question's face would need to scrunch up in order to pronounce the phrase correctly (so this is where my eye squint comes from!) and that could be a reason why we assume that pirates were surly. Vitamin C definitely cleaned up the buccaneer act. Pirating went from seedy to swashbuckling as pirates consumed that helpful vitamin -- they could focus more on treasure and the black spot than their loose teeth and thinning hair. Without Vitamin C, Johnny Depp would not have been such a hottie: he would have had rotting gums and loose teeth, not to mention the toll that hair loss would take on his dreads.
I am sure that Vitamin C plays other important roles in our bodies, but the fact that it has had a role in shaping ways to insult sailors and our own notions of what it means to be a pirate, shows really how important it is.
So, to stay healthy just remember:
"An orange a day keeps the scurvy away!"
Note: Vitamin C is not a remedy for the mumps.
Maggie's column runs bi-weekly on Fridays. She can be reached at jones@cavalierdaily.com.
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