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Scurvy
I do not think. Hirsch seems to think that a shortage of fresh vegetables is the cause of the scurvy. And he cites many stories of how adding fresh vegetables and fruits (including potatoes) healed scurvy pretty quickly. He mentions the high potassium content of potatoes and citrus fruits. It is possible that even some kind of potassium-sodium imbalance rather, took place as one of the factors. He also mentions a high incidence among fish oil industry workers.
"Lastly, the most efficient means of combating an epidemic has been found to be
the addition of potatoes to the rations ; and of late years that has always
been done the moment any indications of scurvy showed themselves
According to Porter, epidemics of scurvy in Indian (Madras) gaols
mostly occur at the time of the monsoon (July to September), that is
to say, at the time of the year of all others, " when the months preceding
are most likely to have had a scanty supply of fresh vegetables."
RE:
first symptoms of the epidemic appeared as early as the twentieth day out from Vera Cruz,
and in the course of the next ten days it had extended so much that, of the whole crew (who were the only class on board to suff"er), one third were more or less ill.
Interesting, that scurvy could develop in as fast as three weeks. That's another strong bit of info that debunks the deficiency theory.
With the addition of fresh vegetables, potatoes, cabbages there was the reciprocal event of the men eating a lot less of the ships preserved (salted and canned?) foods. So, it probably wasn't what they started to eat, but rather it was what they stopped eating that turned the disease around. Lead poisoning? I wonder what the symptoms of it are?
Quote from ggenereux on October 1, 2021, 6:59 amRE:
first symptoms of the epidemic appeared as early as the twentieth day out from Vera Cruz,
and in the course of the next ten days it had extended so much that, of the whole crew (who were the only class on board to suff"er), one third were more or less ill.Interesting, that scurvy could develop in as fast as three weeks. That's another strong bit if info that debunks the deficiency theory.
With the addition of fresh vegetables, potatoes, cabbages there was the reciprocal event of the men eating a lot less of the ships preserved (salted and canned?) foods. So, it probably wasn't what they started to eat, but rather it was what they stopped eating that turned the disease around. Lead poisoning? I wonder what the symptoms of it are?
Yes, I also thought in this direction, and there is a point in the book about the fact that canned vegetables were useless in the treatment of scurvy. But it's not entirely clear to me why exactly such a set of products. That is, potatoes were useful, but bread, for example, not?
I agree that scurvy is not a deficiency of anything.
I know that in China there was a case of water pollution with lead and all the peasants in the area had kidney stones.
Interestingly, @wavygravygadzooks and @beata-2 have gum recession and both take magnesium, if you look at it from the point of view of potassium imbalance, maybe you should try to increase your potassium intake or lower magnesium?2
I actually dropped magnesium for the past 2 weeks and haven’t experienced any muscle cramps, which is great; I did in the past, so I am keeping an eye on it. I am still dealing with a flu and continue taking ascorbic acid (and zinc) but will try once more slowly reduce the ascorbic acid and perhaps eat more apples.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I started getting gradual gum recession long before I was supplementing with magnesium, and the relatively recent burst of recession was not linked with changes in magnesium intake. Additionally, I've been supplementing with potassium for periods of time and it doesn't seem to have any effect on my gums. I still believe the strongest connection for my own gums (and for other dry patches of skin around my body) is with the supplementation of thiamine and a B complex that contained thiamine...those things seem to increase dryness of skin and mucuous membranes, and it takes a while to recover from the dryness after stopping the supplements. Taking ascorbic acid didn't seem to do anything, and neither did eating berries high in Vitamin C. What helped was removing thiamine and the B vitamin complex, and increasing my zinc intake via supplementation.
I remain convinced that my gum problems are the direct result of retinoids harming them, probably from the conversion of stores of retinoids to retinoic acid in my head, and the relative deficiency in zinc (and possibly other cofactors) needed to transport that retinoic acid away and heal any damage to the gums. I sometimes get little white dots on the gumline around one or two teeth where the gums are particularly inflamed, which I'm guessing is reactivation of a herpes virus, although I never get cold sores when it happens (I have had cold sores a few times in my adult life, but it's been several years since the last one).
"Newborns whose mothers took high doses of ascorbic acid, and adults who took high doses, may experience "ricochet" scurvy."
This is interesting and consistent with what Grant wrote about the alleged mechanism of action of ascorbic acid.