What happens if you don't get enough Ascorbic Acid?

Scurvy

Scurvy is a deficiency disease that results from insufficient intake of vitamin C, which is required for correct collagen synthesis in humans.

The scientific name of vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus. 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.

Scurvy in Sailors

Scurvy was at one time common among sailors, pirates and others who were on ships that were out to sea longer than perishable fruits and vegetables could be stored and by soldiers who were similarly separated from these foods for extended periods. It was described by Hippocrates (c. 460 BC–c. 380 BC).

In infants, scurvy is sometimes referred to as Barlow's disease, named after Sir Thomas Barlow (1845–1945), a British physician who described it. (N.B. Barlow's disease may also refer to mitral valve prolapse.) Other eponyms include Moeller's disease and Cheadle's disease.

Symptoms

Dark purplish spots on skin, especially legs.
spongy gums, often leading to tooth loss.
bleeding from all mucous membranes.
Pallor.
Bleeding gums.
Sunken eyes
Opening of healed scars and separation of knitted bone fractures.

Prognosis

Untreated scurvy is always fatal. However, since all that is required for a full recovery is the resumption of normal vitamin C intake, death from scurvy is rare in modern times.

Modern incidence

Scurvy or subclinical scurvy is caused by the lack of vitamin C. In modern western society, scurvy is rarely present in adults, although infants and elderly people are affected.

Vitamin C is destroyed by the process of pasteurization, so babies fed with ordinary bottled milk sometimes suffer from scurvy if they are not provided with adequate vitamin supplements. Virtually all commercially available baby formulas contain added vitamin C for this reason; however heat and storage destroy vitamin C. Human breast milk contains sufficient vitamin C, if the mother has an adequate intake to prevent scurvy on her own.

Scurvy is one of the accompanying diseases of malnutrition (other such micronutrient deficiencies are beriberi or pellagra) and thus is still widespread in areas of the world depending on external food aid.

Though rare, there are also documented cases of scurvy due to poor dietary choices by people living in industrialized nations.

Prevention

Scurvy can be prevented by a diet that includes certain citrus fruits such as oranges or lemons. Other good sources of vitamin C are fruits such as guava, papaya, tomatoes or strawberries. It can also be found in some vegetables, such as bell peppers, broccoli, potatoes, cabbage, spinach and paprika, as well as some pickled vegetables. Though redundant in the face of a balanced diet, various nutritional supplements are available that provide ascorbic acid well in excess of that required to prevent scurvy, and even some candies contain vitamin C.

Eskimoes rarely suffered from scurvy, despite a total lack of fresh fruits or vegetables in their diet, as their custom of eating their meat raw preserved the vitamin C that would have been lost by cooking. Vilhjalmur Stefansson demonstrated the absence of scurvy among Eskimos in 1928.