| Why sailors lost their teeth? |
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| Posted: 24-01-2006 , 10:36 GMT |
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Many hundreds of years ago, long sea trips were made. Explorers were looking for new lands and spent many months at sea. Everything was well planned, and just enough food was taken on board to last for the whole trip. The sailors got bored with eating the same food for months and months. They had no fresh vegetables or fruit, and without those, the sailors got no Vitamin C.
Many of them became ill on board ship. They had sore and bleeding gums, and they had loose teeth. They felt pain in their arms and legs too. But for many years no one knew why this happened. Until in 1753, a Scottish doctor, called James Lind realized that the sailor’s health was affected by what they ate. They developed an illness called scurvy, because they did not get any Vitamin C in their food. From that time, British sailors were given limejuice to drink and were much healthier.© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com) |
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