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Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for everyone who wants to stay healthy.

Hundreds of years ago, people noticed sailors falling sick and lethargic after a few months at sea. This puzzled them because the sailors had plenty to eat; yet they fell sick to a sickness called “scurvy”. The sailors had plenty of meat and fish but very little vegetables and fruit in their diet. Some sailors suffering from scurvy had bleeding gums, while others lost some of their teeth after months at sea.

A doctor by the name of James Lind, gave sailors two oranges and one lemon every day. This seemed to cure the sailors, although he did not know the magic ingredient inside oranges and lemons that did the trick. Soon, the British Navy included limes, lemons and oranges as part of the sailors’ diet. The sailors ate so much of these sour fruits that they were nicknamed “Limeys”.

Then in 1933, a British sugar chemist named Walter Norman Haworth identified the nutrient inside limes, lemons and oranges. He named it “ascorbic acid”.  Ascorbic acid is the scientific name of vitamin C. For his contribution to science, Haworth received the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Besides protecting sailors from scurvy, vitamin C helps by strengthening our immune system. When we have a strong immune system, we are protected from sicknesses like the cold and fever.

It will also keep you alert in school and you will not feel lethargic and weak. When you are alert in school, you will learn better and get better grades in your tests!