Posted on 12/02/2016 11:35:48 PM PST by nickcarraway
DOCTORS have been surprised by an outbreak of SCURVY in Sydney.
The salty sea dog condition - often caught by sailors on long voyages because of a lack of vitamin C - has been found to be making a surprising comeback Down Under.
Research by Sydney's Westmead Hospital found that patients suffering from wounds that refused to heal often had scurvy because of generally poor dietary habits.
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C - found in citrus fruits like oranges and limes - early symptoms include weakness, feeling tired, curly hair, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, and bleeding from the skin may occur.
As scurvy worsens there can be poor wound healing, personality changes, and finally death from infection or bleeding.
Common foods which are high in vitamin C include oranges, strawberries, red and green peppers, broccoli, kiwi fruit and grapefruit.
Historically sailors on long voyages were prone to scurvy because of a lack of access to vitamin C rich provisions. The slang term used in the US for a British person - limey - originated in the mid 1800s because of the Royal Navy's scurvy prevention measure of adding lime or lemon to the sailor's daily ration.
Professor Jenny Gunton, who heads the Centre for Diabetes, Obesity and Endocrinology research at The Westmead Institute, said several of her patients at Westmead Hospital with long-running unhealed wounds were cured by a simple course of vitamin C.
She said: “When I asked about their diet, one person was eating little or no fresh fruit and vegetables, but the rest ate fair amounts of vegetables; they were simply over-cooking them, which destroys the vitamin C.
The irony, she said, is that it is possible for patients to have scurvy, even when they are overweight or obese.
She said: “It highlights a danger that you can consume plenty of calories, yet not receive enough nutrients.
“While diabetes is not traditionally a risk factor for vitamin C deficiency, the research suggests that clinicians should be alert to the potential problem.
“Particularly if their patients present with unhealed ulcers, easy bruising or gum bleeding without obvious cause.“
A research paper by prof Gunton, just published in the international journal Diabetic Medicine, concluded that some diabetes patients should be tested for vitamin C deficiency.
Her paper reported there was no predominant social pattern to the incidence of scurvy and that patients with poor diets appeared to be from a range of socio-economic backgrounds.
Prof Gunton said: “This result suggests that despite the large amount of dietary advice readily available to the community, there are still plenty of people - from all walks of life - who are not getting the messages.
“Human bodies cannot synthesise vitamin C, so we must eat foods containing it.”
That must be where I went wrong...I used a spoon.Well,at least I can cross "try vegimite" off my bucket list.
Yes, that's true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bymKIPaTws
Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling talk on Vitamin C and heart disease at Standford Medical Center
Well,at least I can cross “try vegimite” off my bucket list.....Sorry, I have had to have a bucket REAL close when served Vegamite. YEESH! My own vomit tastes better!
Well,at least I can cross “try vegimite” off my bucket list.....Sorry, I have had to have a bucket REAL close when served Vegamite. YEESH! My own vomit tastes better!
I hear ya,bro! There are many,many fine things about Australia and her people but Vegimite ain't one of 'em!
Most people don’t think much of scurvy beyond using it as a piratical adjective and think the disease hasn’t been seen since that era. About all the science trivia most recall of it, if any, is the odd combo of us and guinea pigs being susceptible to it. Those of us who sought out historical tales of the long voyages of exploration, recall how devastating it can be. But, although I bet many Freepers fall in that group, government schooling these days looks down on such. The early changes of scurvy are subtle patterns of skin bruising, which patients think is ‘just a rash’ and which most physicians mistake for more modernistic scary rashes. At which point we Dermatologists tell them its the scary (fatal if never treated!) rash they’ve forgotten. Happily it’s the easiest fatal disease to fix. Some of these patients have been living on liquid calories, some have goofy food fetishes, but many are just old, set in their ways, and eating just those things they still like.
I spent six years in an Australian boarding school. As a result I absolutely despise Vegemite. Because it was seen as very healthy we were put under immense pressure to eat it, and they also used to slip it into things as an addon you didn’t discover until you took a bite.
The worst thing was I loved crumpets. Crumpets dripping with butter. Then I was told I had to add Vegemite to them. Took away my favourite part of breakfast.
CRUMPETS! CRUMPETS! I love them with marmalade!! I was given cranberry marmalade at Thanksgiving and I made flaky, light crumpets that were so delicious with cranberry marmalade. My girlfriend and her family are Dutchies, so they wouldn’t eat them.
That’s a sad story. On the other hand, you didn’t get pellagra.
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