Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share When Life Gives You Limes, Solve Scurvy
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
When Life Gives You Limes, Solve Scurvy
Scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, once killed thousands of sailors during long sea voyages. The breakthrough came in 1747 when Dr. James Lind conducted the first recorded clinical trial, proving citrus fruits could prevent the illness. British sailors were later issued lime juice, earning them the nickname “limeys.” Though now considered offensive by some, the term reflects an important medical milestone and the early use of evidence-based treatment.
References:
Oxford University Press. (n.d.). Limey. In Oxford English dictionary. Retrieved April 14, 2025, from https://www.oed.com/dictionary/limey_n
Chandler, A.T. (1888) Coaching the Coach. In Sladen, B.A. (Ed.), Australian ballads and rhymes: Poems inspired by life and scenery in Australia and New Zealand. (pp. 31-34). Walter Scott. Retrieved April 14, 2025, from https://archive.org/details/australianballad00slad/page/30/
Price, C. (14 August, 2017). The age of scurvy. Distillations magazine. Science History Institute Museum & Library. [Website] Accessed 14 April, 2025, at https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-age-of-scurvy/
Amisha, F. N. U., Ghanta, S. N., Kumar, A., Fugere, T., Malik, P., Kakadia, S., ... & Kakadia, S. (2022). Scurvy in the modern world: Extinct or not?. Cureus, 14(2). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8958866/
Cook, J., & Price, A. G. (1971). The explorations of Captain James Cook in the Pacific, as told by selections of his own journals, 1768-1779. (pp. 7, 129, 192) Courier Corporation.
Lind, J. (1753). A treatise of the scurvy: in three parts, containing an inquiry into the nature, causes, and cure, of that disease, together with a critical and chronological view of what has been published on the subject. Bulletin of the World Health Organization: the Internationa
View all episodes
By MedEvidence ArticlesScurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, once killed thousands of sailors during long sea voyages. The breakthrough came in 1747 when Dr. James Lind conducted the first recorded clinical trial, proving citrus fruits could prevent the illness. British sailors were later issued lime juice, earning them the nickname “limeys.” Though now considered offensive by some, the term reflects an important medical milestone and the early use of evidence-based treatment.
References:
Oxford University Press. (n.d.). Limey. In Oxford English dictionary. Retrieved April 14, 2025, from https://www.oed.com/dictionary/limey_n
Chandler, A.T. (1888) Coaching the Coach. In Sladen, B.A. (Ed.), Australian ballads and rhymes: Poems inspired by life and scenery in Australia and New Zealand. (pp. 31-34). Walter Scott. Retrieved April 14, 2025, from https://archive.org/details/australianballad00slad/page/30/
Price, C. (14 August, 2017). The age of scurvy. Distillations magazine. Science History Institute Museum & Library. [Website] Accessed 14 April, 2025, at https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-age-of-scurvy/
Amisha, F. N. U., Ghanta, S. N., Kumar, A., Fugere, T., Malik, P., Kakadia, S., ... & Kakadia, S. (2022). Scurvy in the modern world: Extinct or not?. Cureus, 14(2). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8958866/
Cook, J., & Price, A. G. (1971). The explorations of Captain James Cook in the Pacific, as told by selections of his own journals, 1768-1779. (pp. 7, 129, 192) Courier Corporation.
Lind, J. (1753). A treatise of the scurvy: in three parts, containing an inquiry into the nature, causes, and cure, of that disease, together with a critical and chronological view of what has been published on the subject. Bulletin of the World Health Organization: the Internationa