Vitamin C By Cookie

[Mother]

Cookie posted this in another forum and I thought it a good topic for here. It makes us think about our nutrition more deeply.

Quote:

Cookie wrote:

Scurvy is an avitaminosis resulting from lack of vitamin C, as without this vitamin, the synthesised collagen is too unstable to meet its function. Scurvy leads to the formation of liver spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from all mucous membranes. The spots are most abundant on the thighs and legs, and a person with the ailment looks pale, feels depressed, and is partially immobilized. In advanced scurvy there are open, suppurating wounds and loss of teeth and, eventually, death. The human body cannot store vitamin C,[29] and so the body soon depletes itself if fresh supplies are not consumed through the digestive system.

 

snip

 

While the earliest documented case of scurvy was described by Hippocrates around the year 400 BC, the first attempt to give scientific basis for the cause of this disease was by a ship's surgeon in the British Royal Navy, James Lind. Scurvy was common among those with poor access to fresh fruit and vegetables, such as remote, isolated sailors and soldiers.

 

snip

 

I'm wondering.

Living sub-tropic I can find vitamin C in many many ways. But what will my more snowbound buddies do for vitamin C in case the vitamin shop is...well missing..

 

Scurvy was not a joke for thousands of years in many places. In case of long term disruption of usual supply and the depletion of your own stores...how are you going to get the C?

 

Just curious...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C

 

 

This reply was by Pogo:

 

Quote:

There are many sources for vitamin c. Rose hips, parsley, liver, milk, just to name a few.

 

 

This one by me:

 

Quote:

Most fruits and vegetables contain some vitamin C. Tomatoes and strawberries are prime examples. If we grow our own gardens we can always find vitamin c in those foods but even if we don't we can find them in the wild or in our yard.

 

Rose hips are a good 'wild' source of vitamin C and wild greens contain adequate amounts. Most wild fruits contain enough vitamin C to meet our needs.

 

Winter will find us a bit leaner when it comes to fresh vitamin C and a lot is lost in canning and drying but we can always fall back on teas made from pine or other trees in the winter. The real problem will be not IF we get enough but will we be willing to make sure we DO get enough?

 

What do you plan to do about your vitamin C levels?

 

((( )))

 

 

[westbrook]

I have personally been storing http://www.truelemon.com/sample.html

 

lemon and lime and see they now have Orange!!! oh baby! orange! yep gonna go get me some!

 

mixes in water, the lemon tastes like lemonade minus the sugar and the lime is refreshing again no sugar included.

 

Order the free samples and try them yourself. Now that I see they have orange I am going on a search!

 

With 100% daily recommended dosage and I know the kids will love it! (gave some in a package to my great nephews age 2 and 4 they couldn't get enough of the sour! right out of the package). Since it is packages in individual foil packets it will last for years.

 

OF course I have V. C pills and chewables which goes along with milti Vitamins to cover all the bases.

 

Rose Hips are a great source of V. C too.

 

also don't forget the Other Vitamin C too... Chocolate! >wink<

[JCK88]

You are very lucky....I don't see an ingredients list on this but I did send for the free sample. However, it's likely I won't be able to use although my husband could. (Probably has some corn-derived sweetner in it...) I have been looking for corn-free, wheat-free, orange-free, grape free vitamin C for some time. It's making the rose hips harvesting look easier, LOL

[Mother]

From what I can find on the site it does contain Maltodextrin but doesn't specify from what source. It can be made from rice but it's normally derived from corn as that is cheaper. It's really hard to get away from corn in a diet especially high fructose corn syrup.

 

If you are harvesting wild rose hips you will have your work cut out for you as they are normally small (pea sized). At least they pack a nice punch for their size. However, if you have plans to plant a rose bush for harvesting the hips, I suggest you get a Rosa Rugosa as their hips are BIG. Some of them being an inch or more. They taste sweet, are easy to use for juice, syrup or jam and are great for dehydrating. They make great tea.

 

((( )))

[Mother]

Westy Westy Westy, dear girl, you are going to have a terrific nutritional defeciency of Vitamin C if you keep insisting that Chocolate is a vitamin. We all KNOW it's an amino acid.

 

****Big sigh**** (Mother goes off shaking her head....Well, at least she will have her full complement of proteins and maybe she'll make rose hip chocolate drinks. She MUST have a recipe for that! )

 

[furbabymom]

Can you use the hips off of any roses, or only certain kinds? I have some rose bushes in my front yard and I noticed the other day they have nice-sized hips on them...

[Mother]

I've used hips from a lot of different kinds of roses including tiny wild rose hips. They are all edible as far as I know the only difference being the taste and the pulp. The bigger the hip the more pulp involved. Smaller ones are usually just seed though still can be used for making tea.

 

Here's some info on rose hips. It's also a pretty good site for other edibles.

 

Practicallyedible.com

 

 

 

[JCK88]

I know a source for the huge rose hips...there are old roses growing in a ditch nearby....and the hips are huge. Around here where there used to be towns in the 1600's, you find interesting stuff growing around old cellar holes and such. We live in what was a town in the late 1600's but which was abandoned in about 80 years. It's very nifty to go up into the woods and find the old places.

[westbrook]

maybe JCK88 you ought to start rooting those rose cuttings and selling them... to people like..... me. >big toothy grin