Ancient disease from 3800 BC is making a comeback in children - scurvy

[Sly Saint]

An ancient disease linked to malnutrition is on the rise among American children, 'troubling' data shows.

The rate of scurvy - which can cause teeth to fall out and extreme pain - tripled between 2016 and 2020, from around eight in every 100,000 kids to nearly 27.

The condition is caused by a lack of Vitamin C from fruit and vegetables, which is essential to keep skin, blood vessels and ligaments healthy.

Millions of children in rural America live in food deserts — neighborhoods where there is limited access to healthy, fresh food — who are especially vulnerable.

But while diet has is a major contributor to scurvy, experts say there are other factors in play - including rising rates of autism in minors.

In modern history, scurvy was documented in the 1500s and more than 2million sailors died from the condition between the 16th and 18th centuries.

It was thought to have disappeared in the 1900s once it was discovered that eating a more well-balanced seemed to prevent it.

But it had a resurgence in the 1970s when the American diet became more carb-based and less dependent on fresh fruits and vegetables, according to the National Library of Medicine.

Scurvy is caused by a long-term lack of vitamin C, a vital nutrient for tissue growth and wound healing. It's found in citrus fruits, potatoes, red and chili peppers, strawberries and tomatoes.

The vitamin is needed to make collagen, a major building block for the skin, bones, ligaments, blood, muscles and cartilage.

Without vitamin C, the body cannot make enough collagen or heal as quickly, which leads to bleeding gums and loosened teeth, scaly skin, brittle hair, bleeding underneath the skin, muscle fatigue, anemia and bruising.

Scurvy can also cause swollen legs and pain so severe children may refuse to walk.

Ancient disease from 3800 BC is making a comeback in children (msn.com)

 

[alktipping]

rubbish from msn again they really need to pay intelligent journalist rather than a failing A I .

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

rubbish from msn again they really need to pay intelligent journalist rather than a failing A I .

The bit quoted above seems fairly reasonable. There has always been a few cases of scurvy around, mostly in alcoholics and people who live in isolation with very restricted diets but it is quite likely that there are ore cases now.

 

[Trish]

Maybe the reference to rubbish is the headline, which seems to me pretty odd.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

The headline may be fair. 3800 BC may be the earliest documented case. That would be from bone damage, which is of a specific pattern in scurvy. Before 3800 BC most cultures may have been based on fresh foods and there aren't that many bones. Scurvy occurs when a diet is totally restricted to stored cooked, preserved or maybe dried foods, as on ships. I can imagine that certain groups within modern cultures may eat a very restricted processed diet that does not include vitamin fortified components. It isn't just due to starvation or poverty

 

[alktipping]

the point of my post is that they inferred that our species understood scurvy 3800 years ago . and MSN does post a lot of poor quality doom and gloom clickbait ,

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

It says scurvy can be traced back to Egypt 3800 BC (rather than 3800 years ago) which it can, by looking at the bone defects, just as we have traced forms of arthritis even in fossils millions of years old. I haven't read it all but I didn't see anything about them understanding about vitamin C 3800BC. They might have done. Medical progress is often hyped, having been known long before. Vaccination is attributed to Jenner in 1790 but in fact was known in the Middle East centuries before.