The history of vitamin C is one of medicine's most dramatic stories: a mystery disease that killed sailors for centuries, a Nobel Prize-winning discovery, and a molecule that became the world's most widely used dietary supplement.
Why did scurvy kill so many sailors before 1750?
Long voyages left crews without fresh food, and up to 50% of a crew could die of scurvy. Vasco da Gama lost 100 of his 160 men in 1497, and James Lind ran his landmark trial in 1747.
Before vitamin C was identified, scurvy claimed the lives of millions of sailors. Symptoms include bleeding gums, loose teeth, skin hemorrhages, extreme fatigue, and death. On long sea voyages, up to 50% of crews could perish from scurvy.
- 1497: Vasco da Gama loses 100 of 160 sailors to scurvy
- 1535: Jacques Cartier's crew is saved by indigenous people using pine needle tea (rich in vitamin C)
- 1747: James Lind's landmark clinical trial proves citrus fruits cure scurvy
- 1795: British Royal Navy mandates lemon juice — incidence of scurvy drops to near zero
Who isolated vitamin C, and when?
Albert Szent-Györgyi isolated hexuronic acid in 1928, Charles Glen King identified it as the anti-scurvy factor in 1932, and Walter Norman Haworth established its structure and named it ascorbic acid.
The active anti-scurvy substance ("vital amine C") was isolated by two scientists working independently:
- Albert Szent-Györgyi (Hungary) isolated hexuronic acid from adrenal glands in 1928
- Charles Glen King (USA) identified it as the anti-scurvy factor in 1932
- Walter Norman Haworth (UK) determined its chemical structure and named it "ascorbic acid"
🏅 Nobel Prize 1937: Albert Szent-Györgyi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of vitamin C and its role in biological oxidation reactions.
How did vitamin C become an industrial product?
Swiss chemist Tadeus Reichstein published the first industrial synthesis of ascorbic acid in 1934. Vitamin C became the first vitamin made at industrial scale, and his process still underpins commercial production today.
Swiss chemist Tadeus Reichstein developed the first industrial synthesis of ascorbic acid in 1934 (the Reichstein process), making vitamin C the first vitamin synthesized on an industrial scale. This process, with modifications, is still the basis of commercial vitamin C production today.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1928 | Isolation of hexuronic acid (later called ascorbic acid) |
| 1932 | Identification as anti-scurvy factor |
| 1933 | Chemical structure determined |
| 1934 | First industrial synthesis (Reichstein process) |
| 1937 | Nobel Prize awarded to Szent-Györgyi |
| 1970 | Linus Pauling publishes "Vitamin C and the Common Cold" |
| 2004 | NIH demonstrates IV vitamin C achieves pharmacological levels |
What made vitamin C a mass-market supplement?
Linus Pauling's 1970 book. Consumption exploded in its wake: by 1975 Americans were getting through 100,000 tonnes of vitamin C a year, and it remains the world's best-selling dietary supplement.
Following Linus Pauling's 1970 book, vitamin C supplement use exploded. By 1975, Americans were consuming 100,000 tons of vitamin C per year. Today, vitamin C remains the world's best-selling dietary supplement.
What is vitamin C research looking at today?
Current work explores epigenetic regulation through TET enzymes, high-dose IV vitamin C in oncology, intensive care and sepsis protocols, and neurodegenerative prevention. These are research avenues, not established uses.
Current research is exploring vitamin C in several promising areas:
- Epigenetic regulation via TET enzyme support
- High-dose IV vitamin C in oncology
- Critically ill patients in ICU settings
- Sepsis treatment protocols
- Neurodegenerative disease prevention
After nearly a century of study, vitamin C continues to surprise researchers with new mechanisms of action and therapeutic potential.
FAQ
Sources: Lind J. (1753). A Treatise of the Scurvy. | Holst A., Frölich T. (1907). Journal of Hygiene. | Funk C. (1912). Journal of State Medicine. | Albert Szent-Györgyi Nobel Lecture (1937). | Stryer L. Biochemistry, 8th Ed. (2015). | Carpenter KJ. The History of Scurvy and Vitamin C. Cambridge University Press (1986).
