Scurvy 're-emerging' as poor diets and cost of living pressures mean people get less Vitamin C

23 October 2024, 05:46

Scurvy is "re-emerging" as poor diets mean people are getting less Vitamin C, according to a scientific study.

Scurvy was most common hundreds of years ago onboard ships undergoing long-haul journeys, when crews could go months without fresh fruit or vegetables.

Symptoms include bleeding gums, red or blue spots on the skin, lack of energy, and joint or muscle pain, as well as skin that bruises easily.

But now, researchers claim, the cost of living is causing people to neglect their diets, with the risk of scurvy "re-emerging".

Writing in the journal BMJ Case Reports, scientists documented the case of a man who went to the doctor with an unexplained rash and bruising.

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Medical staff were left puzzled as test after test came back negative, while the man's condition continued to get worse.

Eventually they diagnosed scurvy after it emerged that he barely ate fruit or vegetables at all, living almost entirely on processed foods.

He was given Vitamin C tablets and his symptoms disappeared. In the heyday of the Royal Navy, sailors were required to take lemon or lime juice rations to ward off the disease, which killed more than two million sailors between the 16th and 18th centuries.

Other risk factors for scurvy include alcoholism, smoking, obesity, and having undergone weight-loss surgery.

Scurvy is still very rare in the UK, with just 171 cases reported last year. But that is significantly more than 2007-8, when 63 cases were reported.

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The author of the study, Dr Andrew Dermawan, of the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth, Western Australia, wrote: "Scurvy is still seen as a disease of the past, especially in developed countries.

"However, sporadic cases of scurvy occur, especially in the elderly, patients with alcoholism and children with psychiatric or developmental problems.

"Scurvy is a re-emerging disease with the rising cost of living. It can present as early as a month after a vitamin C-deficient diet."

According to the NHS, scurvy symptoms to look out for include:

• feeling very tired and weak all the time
• feeling irritable and sad all the time
• joint, muscle or leg pain
• swollen, bleeding gums (sometimes teeth can fall out)
• developing red or blue spots on the skin, usually on the legs and feet, although this may be less noticeable on brown or black skin
• skin that bruises easily