I'm sure many here are aware of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who had lived with the Inuit, and had taken part in a year-long, meat-only diet under close medical supervision.
Question: If he ate a diet of only meat, how did he not get scurvy? Are there some sources of meat, fish, shellfish, etc, that would supply enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy? I have heard that the actual amount of vitamin C necessary to prevent scurvy is miniscule, i.e. 3-5mg. Is this so?
Biochemist Ray Peat has discussed a similar experiment (and also mentioned a relevant dog study) in the following passage: "Fifty years ago, it was found that a large amount of cod liver oil in dogs' diet increased their death rate from cancer by 20 times, from the usual 5% to 100%.
Nobody asked about cod liver oil. Cod liver oil contains, as the name states FAT soluable vitamins which ascorbic acid is none of. This has nothing to do with the question at hand.
AND Dogs are able to perform vitamin C synthesis.
Quoted message said:
A diet rich in fish oil causes intense production of toxic lipid peroxides, and has been observed to reduce a man's sperm count to zero. [H. Sinclair, Prog. Lipid Res. 25, 667, 1989.]"
Nobody mentioned something about that either AND the study is 17 years old- there are newer results with different outcomes.
I'm sure many here are aware of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who had lived with the Inuit, and had taken part in a year-long, meat-only diet under close medical supervision.
I guess that would put you in the Eskimo Kook group?
Quoted message said:
Question: If he ate a diet of only meat, how did he not get scurvy? Are there some sources of meat, fish, shellfish, etc, that would supply enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy? I have heard that the actual amount of vitamin C necessary to prevent scurvy is miniscule, i.e. 3-5mg. Is this so?
As the science professor MartyB like to say a few years ago some human beings can in fact perform vitamin C synthesis. Perhaps, Vilhjalmur had this genetic variation?
And, he could have had borderline scurvy. Most moderns on a steady Hamburger, French fry, and coke diet suffer from borderline scurvy.
List of Common Fish of the Arctic/"Near Arctic" Focus on Pacific/Bering Sea/Arctic Ocean (Constructed from various resources and personal observation, but may be incomplete)
Herring Pink Salmon Red (Sockeye) Salmon Chum (Dog) Salmon Silver (Coho) Salmon King (Chinook) Salmon Lake Trout Dolly Varden Arctic Char Grayling Whitefish (various) Sheefish (Inconnu) a large whitefish Pike minnow/carp/dace various Blackfish
fish roe 100 grams: Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid mg 16.0 chinook salmon, raw, 100 grams : Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid mg 4.0
I'm sure many here are aware of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who had lived with the Inuit, and had taken part in a year-long, meat-only diet under close medical supervision.
Question: If he ate a diet of only meat, how did he not get scurvy? Are there some sources of meat, fish, shellfish, etc, that would supply enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy? I have heard that the actual amount of vitamin C necessary to prevent scurvy is miniscule, i.e. 3-5mg. Is this so?