# Scurvey Incidence in USA?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scurvey-incidence-in-usa/475519>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 3, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scurvey-incidence-in-usa/475519 "2008-12-03T16:48:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scurvey-incidence-in-usa/475519/1 "2008-12-03T16:48:59Z")

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I have been reading the Aubrey-Maturin novels, and scurvey was a big problem on sailing ships in the 1800’s. Scurvey (Vitamin C deficiency) is very rare today, because most people have access to fresh fruit and vegetables. My question is: if you live off a diet of fast food, would you come down with scurvey? Is there enough vitamin c in a Big Mac to keep you well?

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scurvey-incidence-in-usa/475519/2 "2008-12-03T17:01:43Z")

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Every couple of years there’s a newspaper article about some college kid living off of Ramen and Cheez-Its who ends up in the doctor’s office because his teeth fell out.

That said, it doesn’t take a whole lot of ascorbic acid to ward of scurvy. And besides fruits, lots of animal products have vitamin C in them as well, as do many soft drinks.