(Sorry for broken/missing english if you find any)
Myth number 5, the Great Scurvy
Myth
The next myth is how in a low to no carbohydrate diet,
such as a carnivore diet, you won't
get enough vitamin C, and therefore you will
get scurvy. Frankly,
this is just ridiculous. You don't see carnivores
dropping dead from scurvy.
Let's look at why.
Vitamin C, also referred to
as ascorbic acid in ascorbate, is
a water-soluble vitamin that is crucially
involved in collagen synthesis, catecholamine
synthesis, bile synthesis, amino acid
synthesis, and peptide hormone synthesis.
It is a reducing equivalent,
also known as an antioxidant, and an
immune modulator, as it was actually shown
to reduce leukocyte adhesion in people with
atherosclerotic lesions.
Most people know that most primates, including
human beings, some bats and guinea pigs
are the only animals that cannot synthesize
vitamin C within their bodies due to the absence
of a certain gene. According to one explanation,
this gene was knocked out
or rendered useless some time ago due
to a change in our DNA structure.
It is suspected that this gene, which goes
by the somewhat long name L-Glono-Gamalactona
oxidase, was selected against,
implying that doing so had some beneficial
effects. It is believed that,
at this period, the Earth was quite warm
and likely abundant in plants and fruits,
so humans not only did not require a gene
to synthesize vitamin C, but this gene
also had unintended consequences that no one
has been able to fully explain.
As a result, we now need to derive vitamin
C from food sources.
How much vitamin C we need to consume is what seems
to be unclear to people.
On a phospholipid bilayer, two protein
transporters are in charge of pushing different substances
against concentration gradients across the membrane.
A Glute4 transporter
and an SVCT transporter, sodium vitamin C
transporter, are two of them.
Glute4 transporters normally carry
glucose into cells, as already explained,
but they also both contribute to how a cell stores
vitamin C. Although it is
frequently stated that human tissues cannot store vitamin C,
two transporters exist that can.
Storage is the act of keeping
something in one place for an extended period of time
for use while being pushed against its
concentration gradient, and these transporters
do exactly that with vitamin C,
even if ephemerally.
You may have noticed the significance
of mentioning the Glute4 transporter, which
typically transports glucose into cells.
Here is where our explanation is.
Vitamin C and glucose compete
for transportation at the same transporter on the cell.
The more sugar you eat,
the more your body needs vitamin C, because
the less your body can use of the vitamin C.
The way that vitamin C functions
while being stored in cell membranes is by functioning
as an antioxidant. When vitamin C,
ascorbic acid, is oxidized,
it becomes dehydroscorbic acid, which
donates electrons, which activates the enzymes
involved in collagen synthesis and the synthesis
of the other products alluded to earlier.
Vitamin C is readily recycled
from its oxidized form if the cellular redox potential
is at an optimal level.
Cellular redox potential, or reduction oxidation
potential, simply refers to the measure
of the propensity of a chemical or biological species
to either acquire or lose electrons through ionization.
If the cellular redox potential is suboptimal,
then the dehydroscorpic acid
oxidized vitamin C must be excreted
and the dehydroscorpic acid is converted into
oxalates.
This can be a problem if present in significant amounts,
as we explained in the last chapter.
Therefore, it is important to minimize
the excretion of vitamin C by not consuming
more vitamin C than is required.
The current dietary guidelines recommend
around 80 milligrams per day.
However, this is based on the standard
American diet, which is a high sugar diet.
It's also important
to keep the cellular redox potential in shape,
especially by regulating blood sugar levels
as hyperglycemia leads to poor redox potential,
which explains the supposed need
for so much vitamin C in the diet, since this claim
is based on a high sugar diet.
This explains why people on a carnivorous,
keto, and or low carb diet do not require
nearly as much vitamin C as other people.
In reality, the amount of
vitamin C that is required to be present within the blood
in order to prevent scurvy is around 4 to 10
micro moles, 0.7 to
1.76 milligrams.
And, since vitamin C is readily
recycled in the presence of optimal redox status
of monocondria, as explained, there is no need
to consume this amount each day, either.
Therefore, the dietary
requirement for human beings of vitamin C seems
to be a matter of nanograms, billionths
of grams.
Again, this is only in the context of an
optimally functioning organism.
There is a history of sailors getting scurvy
from what people attribute to the lack of the consumption
of fresh fruit, primarily during the 15th
and 16th century. But one of the details
that seems to be missing from that story is the fact
that the sailors that develop scurvy were on a diet
of primarily sailors' biscuits.
These biscuits weren't like the biscuits we have today.
They were made of hardtack, which consists
of only flour, salt, and water.
The sailors did not get scurvy in the beginning
of the journey, as they had access to meat
like fish and pork. Later on,
the meat and other food like pea soup would spoil
and the only food that was left on the shells
would be the biscuits, which are entirely bereft
of vitamin C and teeming with carbohydrates.
The only reason the myth that you need
fruits and vegetables to combat scurvy came to fruition
is because Dr. James Lind performed what's commonly known
to be the world's first interventional study
on six groups of sailors with scurvy
and found that the group given citrus juice
was the only group that began to ameliorate their condition.
Other parts of the world have survived
long journeys on meat alone
and have evaded scurvy very effectively.
Even Napoleon's army, when stranded in Egypt,
evaded scurvy by eating only horse meat
by his own orders to his army.
Not eating fruits and vegetables
will not induce scurvy.
This is a myth. It's extremely clear.
You require far more vitamin C in a diet
that has rich in carbohydrates as sugar and vitamin C
compete for the same transporter.
Hyperglycemic events reduce cellular redox potential,
causing you to need more vitamin C,
and you typically need to use more on this type of diet
as you need a higher antioxidant status
to combat free radicals and other reactive oxidation species.
There is sufficient vitamin C content
in the muscle meat of large, ruminant animals
to evade scurvy and serve your needs as a human being.
If this wasn't the case,
millions of carnivores would be dropping dead within months.
The first signs of scurvy are fatigue and weakness,
along with poor mood before anything else
like bleeding gums occurs,
which is usually in the later stages of scurvy.
Symptoms also take about four to five weeks to set in,
possibly up to three months,
which is a very little time.
The reasoning behind the fact that you will not develop scurvy
on a properly tenured and properly fortified carnivore diet
is not exclusive to vitamin C, either.
This goes for nutrients like calcium,
magnesium, and many others as well.
There are no essential nutrients
that cannot be found in adequate amounts in meat
that you need to derive from anywhere else
as long as you are abstaining from carbohydrates.
This is yet another instance of fear-mongering
to discourage people from effectively
and unequivocally enhancing their health.