Scurvy - Disease of vitamin C deficiency | Nutrition, deficiency & diseases

Home › Nutritional deficiency

Scurvy is a historically documented disease and was encountered in earlier days by sailors on long voyages foregoing fresh fruits and vegetables.

Scurvy is a disease caused by the insufficiency of vitamin C (ascorbic acid).

Though many animals can synthesize it in their body and are free from scurvy, unfortunately man has to depend on his food sources for vitamin C.

Health care and nutrition guidelines recommend a daily intake of 75 to 100mg of ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

Inadequate or irregular intake of ascorbic acid can lead to clinical manifestations of this disease in two to three months.

Initial symptoms of scurvy disease include lethargy, tiredness and malaise.

Vitamin C molecule pictures - ball and stick model (enlarge)

With chronic deficiency scurvy progresses and is characterised by spongy gums, bleeding gums, loosened teeth, bleeding beneath the skin, bleeding from the mucous membranes, extreme weakness, myalgia, anemia, pain in the bones, easy bruising and retarded wound healing, oedema, perifolicular hemorrhage and corkscrew hairs and depression.

Scurvy disease pictures: gingivitis hemorrhage in vitamin C deficiency

Scurvy disease pictures: Hemorrhage of gums caused by vitamin C deficiency (enlarge) In its severity and in extreme stages scurvy disease is life threatening causing extreme edema, acute bleeding, neuropathy, jaundice, haemolysis, convulsions, fever and death.

Scurvy disease pictures: cork screw hair condition brought about by vitamin C deficiency

Scurvy pictures - corkscrew hair condition caused by ascorbic acid deficiency (enlarge) As ascorbic acid is lost over storage and heating present day food habits are to be monitored to check the possibility of deficiency of vitamin C.

A relationship appears to be present between alcoholism and vitamin C.