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16th October 2019
Research

Applied human nutrition course leader, Dr Ali Hill discusses how our diets could be contributing to a rise in hospital admissions for scurvy.

Scurvy is on the rise in the UK and picky eating might be the cause, a recent report in Metro suggests. But is this something we should worry about? As with most things, it’s not as clear cut as it might seem.

Scurvy occurs when you don’t have enough vitamin C in your diet. Symptoms include feeling more tired than usual, having swollen or bleeding gums and bruising easily. But it takes one to three months with very little vitamin C to reach this point.

Vitamin C is in so many foods that it’s actually quite difficult to get scurvy. Of course, most people know that oranges, limes, lemons and kiwi fruits contain lots of vitamin C, but new potatoes, broccoli and peppers are also good sources. Still, it’s not impossible to get scurvy, as official NHS figures show.

Read Dr Ali Hill's article in full on The Conversation