Vitamin C

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a vitamin. It is found in fresh fruits, berries and vegetables. It is one of the water-soluble vitamins.

Vitamin C is important in wound healing. Without enough vitamin C, a person can get a sickness called scurvy. Lack of vitamin C was a serious health problem on long ocean trips where supplies of fresh fruit were quickly used up. Many people died from scurvy on such trips.

Most animals make their own vitamin C. Some mammals cannot. Those that cannot include the main suborder of primates, the Haplorrhini: these are the tarsiers, monkeys and apes, including humans. Others are bats, capybaras and guinea pigs.

Vitamin C was first discovered in 1928. In 1932, it was proved to stop the sickness called scurvy. That fruit was a cure for scurvy was known long before vitamins were known to exist.