this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2024
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The cost-of-living squeeze and poor diets are putting people at a higher risk of developing scurvy, with a case caused by an acute vitamin C deficiency recently treated at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I would not have thought this possible, since Vitamin C is added to so many processed foods these days.

[–] Peppycito 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We thought we cured scury, like, 6 times and it keeps coming back.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

"Arrr you'll never defeat me" - scurvy probably

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Is it cheaper to leave vitamin C away? Or is it a conservation/by product? I'm asking because if they can leave it away they'll do so. But I'm no expert in food processing nor vitamin addition laws.

[–] Justas 2 points 1 month ago

Sometimes it's used for flavour, and sometimes it is used to regulate acidity.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

Canada too has seen this disease make a come back because of food inflation.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I looked up why scurvy kind of went away and it’s bc you get vitamin c in potatoes which made so much sense bc who doesn’t love potatoes

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Even before potatoes, scurvy was rare to the point of being almost unknown on land, simply because it is such a hard disease to get. You don't need a lot of Vitamin C to stave off scurvy, and just about anything that isn't 'grain and preserved meat' has SOME vitamin c in it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah something tells me this isn’t so much a “cost of living thing”, junk food is more expensive then vegetables these days

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Even potato chips contain enough Vitamin C to stave off scurvy. It is a hard disease to get. The guy in the article sounds like he had other deficiencies too, so it might've been a cost of living situation for him, legitimately, but scurvy alone is something you have to work to get. Like 'meat-only diet' level malnutrition.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I thought for a second that couldn’t be the case bc mikaela peterson is on a carnivore diet but she’s probably rich enough to afford all kinds of supplements

[–] paysrenttobirds 11 points 1 month ago

Doctors put him on a dose of 100 milligrams of vitamin C per day, as well as folic acid and multivitamins.

"He also started eating a lemon daily,"

Makes my teeth hurt

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Christ people, eat some potatoes or some onions. My diet is pure dogshit and I still manage to not get scurvy. It's a HARD disease to get. Other nutritional deficiencies are much easier to accidentally come across.

Didn't know bariatric surgery was a risk factor though, that's interesting.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

How? Isn't vitamin C everywhere? They have to have fruits and veggies, and even french fries and ketchup have some of the vitamin C. Like, I have an awful diet and I still manage to avoid scurvy. That's wild.