Ascorbic Acid

          Ascorbic acid was a very important molecule in the destinies of our ancestors that would venture in the unknown waters without the fresh supplies they needed. This molecule could have made the Age of discoveries never happen, or in other words, the lack of it.

Ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C, is a very important molecule for the human body. People that have a deficient diet, like sailors in previous times, would develop scurvy, disease that affect and killed most sailors and was caused by the lack of vitamin C in their diets. Scurvy was a devastating disease that caused exhaustion, swelling of  the arms and legs, softing of the gums, excessive bruising, hemorrhaging of the nose and mouth, foul breath, diarrhea , loss of teeth, lung and kidney problems, death from acute infection and pneumonia, between others. During this period scurvy became a ‘norm’ in the sea, it was something normal for the crew to develop the disease, and it was the number one cause for the deaths in the sea. Even though scurvy could be cured immediately with a diet with vitamin C at that time, this fact was unknown. The cause of scurvy was still unknown, and even when the cause was being discovered, most sailors still wouldn’t believe it. Even though specific cases of crews that did not develop scurvy due to the administration of three table spoons of lemon juice on those with early symptoms and clinical studies eventually showed that citrus juice was very effective in the treatment of scurvy, but people didn’t believe in this remedy, and blamed other factors like meat for the disease. Moreover, keeping fresh vegetables and fruit on board of the ship was very hard and troublesome taking the space for other loads. Due to this reason, the diets and citrus juice were not very used. Captain James Cook, of the British Royal Navy was one of the first to make sure its crew was scurvy free, made sure that a scurvy-curing foods were always in their diet and that there was a high level of hygiene on board of his ship. Thanks to these measures taken, none of James Cook men died of scurvy, and his healthy and well-functioning crew was the key point for him to accomplish all the voyages and discoveries that he did, something that could probably not be possible with an exhausted and sick crew.  Even after all this cases in which citrus juice and other types of foods with ascorbic acid have demonstrated to be effective in the cure and prevention of scurvy, still some people were skeptical about the whole solution, and some disbelief still existed in the early twentieth century which lead to more scurvy cases. This was the situation with Robert Scott, which was still didn’t believe the recent discoveries about scurvy, and with a crew which lived with a deficient diet they couldn’t finish their voyage due to exhaustion and a crew full of scurvy symptoms. This is a situation where ascorbic acid could have changed everything, and the crew without scurvy and being healthy could have the strength to push forward and finish their voyage so full of hardships. Besides the citrus juices, fruits and vegetables, there are also fresh meats that can give people the ascorbic acid that they need. Some mammals have the ability to produce ascorbic acid on their own, since their livers is able to transform glucose into this molecule, with the help of an enzyme as a catalyst. However, it is believed that humans lost their ability to also produce ascorbic acid, due to a loss of genetic material that would code for the formation of the needed enzyme. Since humans can’t produce the molecule on their own, they need the exterior source of the vitamin C, and because some mammals are able to produce on their own, if humans eat meat from seal or dog for example, this can also be a very effective source of ascorbic acid.

            The common name given to ascorbic acid is, as mentioned previously, Vitamin C. Name which came from the junction of the words vital and amine, since at the time, it was believed that all vitamins were composed of, at least, one nitrogen. Vitamin C was in fact the third vitamin ever identified and due to that fact it was given to it the C letter in its name. The first pure sample ascorbic acid came in fact from an animal source, even though in the beginning it wasn’t known what the sample actually was. Years later, successful attempts to find the structure of ascorbic acid were done extracting samples from the Hungarian paprika, and the two scientists involved with this molecule were awarded Nobel prizes. A lot of time has passed since the moment ascorbic acid was first identified, however its various uses and possibilities are still not completely known and experts are still not sure about all the effects vitamin c can have in the human body. What is known is that this molecule is needed in our diet. It is necessary in our connective tissues, and fundamental in the production of collagen. Due to these functions in the human body, ascorbic acid is very important to its good functioning, which lead to the beginning of a synthetic production of the molecule in an industrial process similar to the metabolic pathways that occur in most mammals that are able to produce the molecule on their own.

            There is no doubt that ascorbic acid was very important for history, a molecule which could have changed both the world, and the life of people. Lifes could be spared, and more discoveries could be done in less time, if this knowledge of the importance of vitamin C and its sources was known and believed by everyone. The author does a great job showing the tragedies and misery people have went through with the lack of ascorbic acid, and the prosperity they gained with the discovery of its value. Nowadays, ascorbic acid it’s still important in our daily life, but it’s not a molecule that comes to our mind as crucial for our survival. With our access to various types of food, and a varied diet, we are able to easily reach our needed vitamin C levels, so even though the molecule is still important to the human body, as it was in the past, this big importance is not felt so strongly, and the supply of vitamin C is no longer a matter of life or death.