Society can be broken up into early adopters, mass adopters, late adopters, and those who never adopt. You should be able to locate yourself in one of those four categories. Consider the following, which is excerpted from here: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1690-vitamin-c-history-timeline
Early adopters = Scurvy and citrus link (1747)
British naval surgeon James Lind selects 12 men from HMS Salisbury, all suffering from scurvy. He divides them into 6 pairs, giving each group different additions to their basic diet. Those fed citrus fruits experience a remarkable recovery.
Late adopters = Citrus daily ration (1795 - 48 years after initial discovery)
British navy physician Gilbert Blane influenced the Admiralty to issue regulations for the universal use of citrus juice as a daily ration on board British naval vessels. The scourge of scurvy is forever banished from the British navy.
Summary
So 48 years after the initial evidence that vitamin C caused sailors to recover from scurvy rather than die from scurvy, the government adopted a regulation requiring its universal use. In the meantime, many sailors died horrible deaths.
My choice is to be an early adopter and live.
Register for this month’s free video event on “How Do You Know?”
Add new comment