Editing Scurvy (section)

=== 20th century ===
By the early 20th century, when [[Robert Falcon Scott]] made his first expedition to the [[Antarctic]] (1901–1904), the prevailing theory was that scurvy was caused by "[[ptomaine poisoning]]", particularly in tinned meat.<ref>{{cite book |quote=I understand that scurvy is now believed to be ptomaine poisoning |last=Scott |first=Robert F. |title=The Voyage of the Discovery |url=https://archive.org/details/voyageofdiscover001scot |publisher=Smith, Elder & Co |location=London |year=1905 |page=[https://archive.org/details/voyageofdiscover001scot/page/550 550] }}</ref> However, Scott discovered that a diet of fresh meat from Antarctic seals cured scurvy before any fatalities occurred.<ref>{{cite book |quote=[no] party wintering in the Antarctic Regions will have great difficulty in providing themselves with fresh food; and, as we have proved, where such conditions exist there need be no fear of the dreaded word 'scurvy'. |last=Scott |first=Robert F. |title=The Voyage of the Discovery |url=https://archive.org/details/voyageofdiscover001scot |publisher=Smith, Elder & Co |location=London |year=1905 |page=[https://archive.org/details/voyageofdiscover001scot/page/556 556] }}</ref> But while he saw fresh meat as a cure for scurvy, he remained confused about its underlying causes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last= Armston-Sheret |first= Edward |date= 2019-07-01 |title= Tainted bodies: scurvy, bad food and the reputation of the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–1904 |url= https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305748818301610 |journal= Journal of Historical Geography |language= en |volume= 65 |pages= 19–28 |doi= 10.1016/j.jhg.2019.05.006 |s2cid=202357562 |issn=0305-7488}}</ref>

In 1907, an animal model that would eventually help to isolate and identify the "antiscorbutic factor" was discovered. [[Axel Holst]] and [[Theodor Frølich]], two [[Norway|Norwegian]] physicians studying shipboard [[beriberi]] contracted by ship's crews in the Norwegian Fishing Fleet, wanted a small test mammal to substitute for the [[pigeon]]s then used in beriberi research. They fed [[guinea pig]]s their test diet of grains and flour, which had earlier produced beriberi in their pigeons, and were surprised when classic scurvy resulted instead. This was a serendipitous choice of animal. Until that time, scurvy had not been observed in any organism apart from humans and had been considered an exclusively human disease. Certain birds, mammals, and fish are susceptible to scurvy, but pigeons are unaffected since they can synthesize ascorbic acid internally. Holst and Frølich found they could cure scurvy in guinea pigs with the addition of various fresh foods and extracts. This discovery of an animal experimental model for scurvy, which was made even before the essential idea of "vitamins" in foods had been put forward, has been called the single most important piece of vitamin C research.<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 12555613 | volume=122 | issue= 17 | title= Axel Holst and Theodor Frølich--pioneers in the combat of scurvy |date= June 2002 |vauthors= Norum KR, Grav HJ | journal= Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association | pages= 1686–7}}</ref>

In 1915, New Zealand troops in the [[Gallipoli Campaign]] had a lack of vitamin C in their diet which caused many of the soldiers to contract scurvy.<ref>{{cite journal| last1= Wilson | first1=Nick | last2=Ngheim | first2=Nhung | last3=Summers | first3=Jennifer | last4=Carter | first4=Mary-Ann | last5=Harper | first5=Glyn | last6=Wilson | first6=Nicholas|date= 2013|title= A nutritional analysis of New Zealand Military food rations at Gallipoli in 1915: likely contribution to scurvy and other nutrient deficiency disorders|journal=New Zealand Medical Journal|volume=126|issue=1373|pages=12–29|pmid=23797073}}</ref>

[[Vilhjalmur Stefansson]], an Arctic explorer who had lived among the [[Inuit]], proved that the all-meat diet they consumed did not lead to vitamin deficiencies. He participated in a study in New York's [[Bellevue Hospital]] in February 1928, where he and a companion ate only meat for a year while under close medical observation, yet remained in good health.<ref>{{cite journal | author = McClellan Walter S., Du Bois Eugene F. | year = 1930 | title = Prolonged meat diet experiment | url = http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf | journal = J Biol Chem | volume = 87 | pages = 651–668 | doi = 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)76842-7 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160101135046/http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf | archive-date = 1 January 2016 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

In 1927, Hungarian [[biochemist]] [[Albert Szent-Györgyi]] isolated a compound he called "[[hexuronic acid]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/articles/carpenter/index.html |title=The Nobel Prize and the Discovery of Vitamins |access-date=2008-01-25 |author=Carpenter, Kenneth J. |date=22 June 2004 |website=nobelprize.org |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224141953/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/articles/carpenter/index.html |archive-date=24 February 2008 }}</ref> Szent-Györgyi suspected hexuronic acid, which he had isolated from adrenal glands, to be the antiscorbutic agent, but he could not prove it without an animal-deficiency model. In 1932, the connection between hexuronic acid and scurvy was finally proven by American researcher [[Charles Glen King]] of the [[University of Pittsburgh]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/WG/Views/Exhibit/narrative/szeged.html |title=The Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Papers Szeged, 1931-1947: Vitamin C, Muscles, and WWII |access-date=2008-01-25 |website=nlm.nih.gov|publisher=U.S. National Library of Medicine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024133109/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/WG/Views/Exhibit/narrative/szeged.html |archive-date=24 October 2007 }}</ref> King's laboratory was given some hexuronic acid by Szent-Györgyi and soon established that it was the sought-after anti-scorbutic agent. Because of this, hexuronic acid was subsequently renamed ''ascorbic acid.''