Here's the thing about vitamin C - it only works with it;s cofactors. The co factors (about ten of them) work in complete and absolute tandem, in concert, with ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid on it's own is useless.
And again, all who work with the actual molecule know it is hyper fragile, hyper unstable, uber labile. Just like the mRNA mole…
Here's the thing about vitamin C - it only works with it;s cofactors. The co factors (about ten of them) work in complete and absolute tandem, in concert, with ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid on it's own is useless.
And again, all who work with the actual molecule know it is hyper fragile, hyper unstable, uber labile. Just like the mRNA molecule - which needs to be encased in lipids for any chance to remain intact - but lipids also get destroyed by myriad factors, from heat, exposure to light and oxygen and of course digestive enzymes.
Scurvy is not at all related to Vitamin C. Pirates had all manner of C Laden foods - call foods contain Vitamin C, from fish, to meats, tubers, grains, corn, vegetables, fruits etc. So it wasn't lack of vitamin C on board that got pirates Sick. It was the horrible conditions of sea life back then, lack of fresh clean water - for anything, drinking or cleaning. Rats, roaches and other vermin aboard the vessels etc.
But most critically, was venereal diseases. Every port of call was met with plenty of whores - and even gay sex on those filthy ships.
What they had on board those ships, after days at sea, was plenty o pathogens. Modern day ships, have plenty of pathogens on board and the close proximity of humanity can lend to greater chances for epidemia. We often hear of large fun cruise ships having some kind of outbreak.
So, flash back to hundreds of years ago with pirates and other sea faring folk, in living conditions far less complimentary than we could imagine today (living in cramped, cold and damp, dirty confines), with no hot water to clean with and many times foul water for drinking and cleaning, brushing teeth wasn’t all the rage and flossing wasn’t a thing, with mice and rats on board along with bugs and maggots, on little sleep (3 to 4 hour rotations – in tiny bunk beds), motion sickness, duress, stress…
These things will lead to a host of sailor maladies, including again the whores at the various ports of call – syphilis was rampant back then. Not to mention Small Pox, Measles, Influenza and Typhus Fever. Yes, few mention, when writing about the history of scurvy, in the time of or during the Age of Exploration – between 1500 and 1800 – where “millions” of sea faring Europeans succumbed to scurvy, that this was also the Age of Diseases, historic plagues, that wiped out millions of Spaniards, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Italians, Scottish and British to name a few.
Lack of vitamin C was not at all the cause for scurvy, nor the cure. We have to more so recognize perhaps the role of citric acid and not ascorbic acid as having some curative powers over harmful bacteria. Sure, while an orange, kiwi, lemon or lime will have good amounts of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), in these particular fruits there are greater concentrates of citric acid – thus the distinction as “citrus fruits”.
Today we know that Citric acid shows an unexpected ability to enhance the antimicrobial power of a wide range of disinfectants and antibiotic agents. We know that citrate hugely improves the ability of antibiotics to kill or inhibit a wide range of bacterial species including antibiotic resistant strains.
What cofactors? Ascorbate enters the cell by itself via the glucose receptors.
Your comments about Scurvy do not match observed symptoms. It is quite distinct from any of those other diseases you mentioned. And sailors back then didn't have access to any of those vitamin C-containg foods you mentioned —most of them lived on things like preserved meats and hardtack and rum.
And citric acid is very weak compared to the hydrochloric acid of the stomach.
All foods have Vitamin C in them. Especially those foods they had on pirate ships - which were: potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage and beef, liver, and vegetables and even fruit to various types of sea food, and so many other things that the British and other sailors had on board including grains and nuts.
The other components, cofactors and co enzymes found in real Vitamin C (in real fruits, and vegetables and humans and animals) are: Rutin, Bioflavonoids (vitamin P), Factor K, Factor J, Factor P, Tyrosinase, Ascorbinogen, Ascorbic Acid. All of these work in vital and complete concert with each other to do all the things “vitamin C” in our bodies does.
No supplement pills or powders (or drinks) have all of this.
And even if some company decided to gather up all of these components, or synthesize them from scratch, that super high tech pill could still never ever mimic what the real vitamin C and all its co factors does that is already in your body, that you synthesized on your own – not even remotely. Nor could those molecules in your pill or powder once again, remain intact while being exposed to all manner of criteria which will invariably include, air/oxygen, sunlight/daylight, heat, and digestive enzymes, to name a few.
I never said citric acid was as strong as hydrochloric acid. ?? Two different acids - just like ascorbic acid is different. Ascorbic acid however is the most labile of all three.
By the way - the Rum you mentioned can also make you sick. Being sea sick and drunk is not a good combination.
Here's the thing about vitamin C - it only works with it;s cofactors. The co factors (about ten of them) work in complete and absolute tandem, in concert, with ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid on it's own is useless.
And again, all who work with the actual molecule know it is hyper fragile, hyper unstable, uber labile. Just like the mRNA molecule - which needs to be encased in lipids for any chance to remain intact - but lipids also get destroyed by myriad factors, from heat, exposure to light and oxygen and of course digestive enzymes.
Scurvy is not at all related to Vitamin C. Pirates had all manner of C Laden foods - call foods contain Vitamin C, from fish, to meats, tubers, grains, corn, vegetables, fruits etc. So it wasn't lack of vitamin C on board that got pirates Sick. It was the horrible conditions of sea life back then, lack of fresh clean water - for anything, drinking or cleaning. Rats, roaches and other vermin aboard the vessels etc.
But most critically, was venereal diseases. Every port of call was met with plenty of whores - and even gay sex on those filthy ships.
What they had on board those ships, after days at sea, was plenty o pathogens. Modern day ships, have plenty of pathogens on board and the close proximity of humanity can lend to greater chances for epidemia. We often hear of large fun cruise ships having some kind of outbreak.
So, flash back to hundreds of years ago with pirates and other sea faring folk, in living conditions far less complimentary than we could imagine today (living in cramped, cold and damp, dirty confines), with no hot water to clean with and many times foul water for drinking and cleaning, brushing teeth wasn’t all the rage and flossing wasn’t a thing, with mice and rats on board along with bugs and maggots, on little sleep (3 to 4 hour rotations – in tiny bunk beds), motion sickness, duress, stress…
These things will lead to a host of sailor maladies, including again the whores at the various ports of call – syphilis was rampant back then. Not to mention Small Pox, Measles, Influenza and Typhus Fever. Yes, few mention, when writing about the history of scurvy, in the time of or during the Age of Exploration – between 1500 and 1800 – where “millions” of sea faring Europeans succumbed to scurvy, that this was also the Age of Diseases, historic plagues, that wiped out millions of Spaniards, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Italians, Scottish and British to name a few.
Lack of vitamin C was not at all the cause for scurvy, nor the cure. We have to more so recognize perhaps the role of citric acid and not ascorbic acid as having some curative powers over harmful bacteria. Sure, while an orange, kiwi, lemon or lime will have good amounts of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), in these particular fruits there are greater concentrates of citric acid – thus the distinction as “citrus fruits”.
Today we know that Citric acid shows an unexpected ability to enhance the antimicrobial power of a wide range of disinfectants and antibiotic agents. We know that citrate hugely improves the ability of antibiotics to kill or inhibit a wide range of bacterial species including antibiotic resistant strains.
What cofactors? Ascorbate enters the cell by itself via the glucose receptors.
Your comments about Scurvy do not match observed symptoms. It is quite distinct from any of those other diseases you mentioned. And sailors back then didn't have access to any of those vitamin C-containg foods you mentioned —most of them lived on things like preserved meats and hardtack and rum.
And citric acid is very weak compared to the hydrochloric acid of the stomach.
All foods have Vitamin C in them. Especially those foods they had on pirate ships - which were: potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage and beef, liver, and vegetables and even fruit to various types of sea food, and so many other things that the British and other sailors had on board including grains and nuts.
The other components, cofactors and co enzymes found in real Vitamin C (in real fruits, and vegetables and humans and animals) are: Rutin, Bioflavonoids (vitamin P), Factor K, Factor J, Factor P, Tyrosinase, Ascorbinogen, Ascorbic Acid. All of these work in vital and complete concert with each other to do all the things “vitamin C” in our bodies does.
No supplement pills or powders (or drinks) have all of this.
And even if some company decided to gather up all of these components, or synthesize them from scratch, that super high tech pill could still never ever mimic what the real vitamin C and all its co factors does that is already in your body, that you synthesized on your own – not even remotely. Nor could those molecules in your pill or powder once again, remain intact while being exposed to all manner of criteria which will invariably include, air/oxygen, sunlight/daylight, heat, and digestive enzymes, to name a few.
I never said citric acid was as strong as hydrochloric acid. ?? Two different acids - just like ascorbic acid is different. Ascorbic acid however is the most labile of all three.
By the way - the Rum you mentioned can also make you sick. Being sea sick and drunk is not a good combination.