Scurvy is a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy is characterized by bleeding gums, slow wound healing, softening bones, loose teeth, ulcerations of the mouth and digestive tract, general weight loss and fatigue. From 1650 to 1850 half of all sailors on transoceanic voyages died of scurvy. It was discovered by ship surgeon Thomas Lind in the early 1800s that British sailors were spared the disease altogether simply by including a diet rich in citrus fruits. Since limes traveled well, they were the common choice during the early years, and thus the expression "limeys" was coined to describe British sailors. It was later found both at sea and in prison that potatoes were equally successful in preventing scurvy. They were much cheaper to obtain and became standard fare. (Lancet. 1842)

There is actually less than 20 mg of ascorbic acid in a potato.   Yet this small amount, since it is in a vitamin C complex food source, is all the body needs to prevent scurvy and cure it even in its advanced state. Such a remedy is described in detail in Richard Dana's journal, Two Years Before the Mast, written in 1840.

Vitamin C Complex 

Whole food vitamin C complex, as found in potatoes, onions, and citrus fruits is able to quickly cure any case of scurvy. By contrast, the fractionated chemical ascorbic acid has been shown to be insufficient in resolving scurvy conditions, because it does not act as a nutrient. (Lancet 1842). Ascorbic acid simply cannot confer vitamin activity. This was taught by the discoverer of vitamin C complex himself, a Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. Albert Szent-Georgi.

Szent-Georgi discovered vitamin C complex in 1937. In all his research, however, Szent-Georgi found that he could never cure scurvy with the isolated ascorbic acid itself. Realizing he could always cure scurvy with the "impure" vitamin C complex found in simple foods, Szent-Georgi discovered that other factors had to be at work in order for vitamin activity to take place. So, he returned to the laboratory and eventually made the discovery of another member of the vitamin C complex - rutin (also known as vitamin P). All the factors in vitamin C complex, ascorbic acid, rutin, and the other factors, were actually synergists. They were co-factors which together sparked the "functional interdependence of biologically related nutrient factors." (Empty Harvest p120). The term "wheels within wheels" was coined to describe the interplay of these co-factors.