Can man live by bread alone?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
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I had a question concerning this article by Cecil. Midway through he mentions that “But humans must consume vitamin C in their diets, and bread, alas, doesn’t have any. (Not even raisin bread, and I am not going to sully this discussion by considering wacky, hypothetical “breads” like lemon-peel loaf.) So there doesn’t seem to be any way you can avoid getting scurvy.”. I assume he meant human organs don’t manufacture vitamin C or store it (ie: liver and vitamin A) naturally. However, could the body somehow extract vitamin C from the organs themselves or even the brain? What about spinal fluid or bone marrow? Any reserves of vitamin C in there? I know this would be a hellish way to live, what with the body eating itself and all, but is it possible?

Also, at the end of the article Cecil mentions “Judging from the experiences of old sea dogs and pilgrims with scurvy, it’s possible you could live two years, especially if you allow yourself to drink water.”. Does this mean you could have scurvy for up to two years before you succumb to it? I guess, theoretically, a person could live that long but realistically he would die from anaemia or infections before that. So, what would be a realistic projection of life span?

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“Judging by the experience of old sea dogs and pilgrims wiht scurvy…” sounds like he is saying “people with scurvy have lived up to two years.” What more do you want?

I’m also not sure what you mean by extracting vitamin C from the organs themselves. Are you trying to posit that the body does accumulate vitamin C that it could then use up? I think that’s at odds with your assumption that humans don’t store it a la vitamin A and the liver. Or are you trying to say that whatever we need vitamin C for could be raided to somehow supply the vitamin C that process requires? Um, that doesn’t make any sense.

Vitamin C is water soluble. Whatever is not used immediately passes from the body in the urine.