During the Age of Discovery, many crew members died of a strange disease: diarrhea, bleeding gums, fatigue, and eventually paralyzed in bed until death, the whole process was miserable. This disease was terrible for people at that time, but for us today, it is not so terrible, it is scurvy, which is the result of the long-term lack of vitamin C in the human body.
Vitamin C is widely found in fruits and vegetables as well as fresh meat, so under normal circumstances, people will not get scurvy. Seafarers are different, due to long-term drifting at sea, lack of supply of fresh vegetables and fruits, resulting in a serious shortage of vitamin C intake, if not deliberately supplemented, it is easy to get scurvy. Unfortunately, the seafarers of the Age of Discovery did not understand this truth, so many people lost their lives in vain, and if it were today, a few dollars a small bottle of vitamin C lozenges would be enough to save their lives.
Likewise, they did not eat vegetables and fruits, but the Eskimos were not afflicted by scurvy
Seafarers who have not been able to eat vegetables and fruits for a long time have suffered from scurvy, but the Eskimos, who have not eaten vegetables and fruits for a long time, are not plagued by scurvy. Is it because they have special genes?
The Eskimos, also known as the Inuit, lived in Canada, Russia, the United States, and Greenland near the Arctic. There is ice and snow for many years, and the harsh natural climate makes it impossible for vegetables and fruits to grow, so in the recipes of the Eskimos, there are no vegetables and fruits, they only eat meat, which is a rare pure carnivorous race.
This is somewhat similar to the seafarers of the Great Navigation Era, who only ate stored foods such as meat or rice noodles. However, the seafarers could not stand it for a few months, many of them were killed by scurvy, and the Eskimos were able to reproduce, and there must be a reason for this. But unlike what many people think, it's not about genes, it's about the way they eat meat.
Eskimos are not genetically specific, and scurvy must not be associated with the way meat is eaten
In terms of appearance, the Eskimos are a typical race, close to the East Asian peoples, including the Han Chinese. There is nothing special about their genes, and it is impossible to be free from scurvy simply by virtue of their special genes. What really led them not to be afraid of scurvy was actually a special way of eating meat, and it was this ancient way of eating that protected their lives and health, allowing the Eskimos to reproduce from generation to generation.
Those who know the Eskimo way of life must know that they usually eat raw meat. Vitamin C is not only found in vegetables and fruits, but also widely found in animals, but this nutrient is not heat-resistant, and long-term high-temperature cooking will lead to its loss. Vegetables and fruits are either not cooked, or the cooking time is not long, so they can retain all or most of the vitamin C, but meat needs to be cooked for a long time and the vitamin C in it is difficult to retain. So if you eat raw meat, you can add vitamin C to it, and if you eat cooked meat, you can hardly supplement vitamin C.
That's why seafarers in the age of sea voyages could not avoid scurvy by eating meat or rice noodles, while the Eskimos were able to avoid scurvy.
Special fermented foods also allowed Eskimos to supplement with vitamin C
The Eskimos not only ate the meat and offal of animals raw, but also made fermented foods that were difficult for outsiders to swallow. There is a food that many people must have heard of, the specific practice is to kill the seal, and then stuff the fur of the puffin into the seal's stomach, and bury the seal in the ground until the next year.
After a year of burial and fermentation, the puffin carcasses in the seal's belly have "decayed" and emitted a strange smell. But in the eyes of the Eskimos, this is a delicious delicacy, a luxury that only rich people can enjoy. In fact, the vitamin C content of this specially fermented food is far more than that of ordinary fresh meat, which is comparable to most vegetables and fruits. It's just that in the eyes of outsiders, these foods are too bad to smell, and few people dare to try them.
It was precisely by eating raw meat and making fermented foods that the Eskimos ensured that their race could reproduce without vegetables and fruits. If we talk about science, the Eskimos of hundreds of years ago certainly did not compare with the seafarers of the Age of Discovery, but they had richer life experience and knew how to use the food of nature to maintain physical health. This is the greatness of mankind, for millions of years, our ancestors are like the Eskimos, relying on the accumulated rich experience to conquer the world, bringing the footprints of human beings to every corner of the world.
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