Natural Vitamin C: Has it been produced in a human naturally before?

[Bio-Hazard]

I was reading up on Vit. C and noticed that it isn't made naturally by us and one may see it as a genetic defect. Seeing how it has implications upon different types of neurotransmitters and hormones I was wondering if there are humans who actually have the ability to create Vitamin C within themselves.

 

It seems that 1932 marks the date of the acknowledgement of Vitamin C so, it may be true that we haven't come across such humans yet, or else we don't know how to find them.

 

 

What do you think would hypothetically happen if our genes allowed us to make Vita. C?

[rakuenso]

Why we need a gene to manufacture vitamin C in the first place? it's abundant as it is.

 

Remember any gene that produces protein which isn't beneficial to the body is considered useless, and would either 1. become silenced or 2. weeded out by natural selection

 

What would happen if our genes allowed us to make Vita. C in today's world? probably nothing, unless you live in Africa or frequently traversed the seas

[LucidDreamer]

I personally believe that a gene that produces vitamin c would be useful to humans. I don't know much about the mutation that resulted in our inability to produce vitamin c so I don't know how difficult it would be to reacquire the ability to produce vitamin c through mutation.

[Bio-Hazard]

It wouldn't be useless at all o.O;

It would help our immune system greatly also prevent scurvy and other sicknesses.

[Bluenoise]

It wouldn't be useless at all o.O;

It would help our immune system greatly also prevent scurvy and other sicknesses.

 

Look vitamins exist for a reason. They're chemicals that we've lost the ability to produce due to their abundant supply in our diet. We don't need to produce them because we get enough as is.

 

And no one gets scurvy anymore. Vitamin C does not boost your imune system. To tell you the truth there is really no good evidence at all to support that getting extract vitamins is beneficial. There is however a whole lot of unsupported speculation. The closest I've ever seen as support for taking vitamins is a study that showed that maybe if you're a serious alpine skier or marathon runner that vitamin C might just might give you a slight reduction in a cold.

 

The few individuals in todays society that have deficiencies usually result from their inability to properly use that vitamins that they get, not from not getting enough vitamins.

 

Sure maybe if you're stupid enought to try to survive off of kraft dinner alone eating a multi-vitamin might help you. But for a person that eats a varied diet all vitamins do is give you expensive pee.

 

Really they give nutritionists more to talk about, but for someone who doesn't eat a stupid diet or has some underlying problem extra vitamins serve no purpose.

[ecoli]

Really they give nutritionists more to talk about' date=' but for someone who doesn't eat a stupid diet or has some underlying problem extra vitamins serve no purpose.[/quote']

 

right, but if I recall these people are somewhat in the majority amoung first world nations.

[Bluenoise]

They have alot more to worry about from their bad diets than lack of vitamins.

 

They'll be more likley die from a heart attack before they see any signs of inadequate vitamins.

[LucidDreamer]

Look vitamins exist for a reason. They're chemicals that we've lost the ability to produce due to their abundant supply in our diet. We don't need to produce them because we get enough as is.

 

There are many places in the world where people are not as rich and well-fed as the western world. For most of the history of mankind man was not as well-fed as he is today. Additionally, mankind has not lived in the jungle where food with vitamin c was much more plentiful then in the forests, plains, and savannas. Our ancestors that lost the ability to produce vitamin c may have had a plentiful supply, but we know of at least some examples of their descendants that would have benefited from the ability to produce it.

Sure maybe if you're stupid enought to try to survive off of kraft dinner alone eating a multi-vitamin might help you. But for a person that eats a varied diet all vitamins do is give you expensive pee.

 

Really they give nutritionists more to talk about, but for someone who doesn't eat a stupid diet or has some underlying problem extra vitamins serve no purpose.

 

Most nutritionists recommend taking a multi-vitamin a day, which, I'm assuming, is based on research.

[Bluenoise]

There are many places in the world where people are not as rich and well-fed as the western world. For most of the history of mankind man was not as well-fed as he is today. Additionally, mankind has not lived in the jungle where food with vitamin c was much more plentiful then in the forests, plains, and savannas. Our ancestors that lost the ability to produce vitamin c may have had a plentiful supply, but we know of at least some examples of their descendants that would have benefited from the ability to produce it.

 

What's your point? So there are some extreeme examples where poeple have vitamin C deficiency, no one here is denying it exists. But the fact remains that a typical human diet contains more than adequate vitamin C, which is why we no long need to have the ability to produce it. Seeing as how poeple in poorer nations are more likley to starve to death it's beneficial for their bodies to not waste energy in producing a vitamin they're getting enough of for the most part. Are you trying to dispute this? Would you suggest giving starving people vitamins instead of food? Which as I last recall contains vitamins.

 

Most nutritionists recommend taking a multi-vitamin a day, which, I'm assuming, is based on research.

 

Well maybe you shouldn't be assuming that. That's not an arguement. From what I've read and I have read research on this. There are far more respectible studies debunking the use of vitamins than there are supporting it. Any search on the internet will find this information. Actually the only solid research on vitamins shows that excess of many vitamins especially the fat soluble ones can be very detrimental to your health.

 

If you do a quick search on the net you'll find that info on vitamins just a big pot of conflicting information. Except for the dangers of over consumptions which are very clear.

 

Like why not just eat a balanced diet and get all you need from that, Instead of eating crap trying to compensate for it with vitamins which may or may not help and accept the risks that come from that?

[Bluenoise]

Oh just as a side note do you know that most vitamins that you consume in a pack of multi-vitamins are made from petroleum bi-products? There are only a few exceptions (B12 and I forget the rest).

 

Oh and the rest of these are produced by genetically altered microbes in the biotech industry.

 

It's really fun to tell many health nuts this.

[LucidDreamer]

What's your point? So there are some extreeme examples where poeple have vitamin C deficiency' date=' no one here is denying it exists. But the fact remains that a typical human diet contains more than adequate vitamin C, which is why we no long need to have the ability to produce it.

[/quote']

What's a typical human diet? The American diet? The French diet? The English diet? The Greek diet? The South American diet? The African diet? Or one of the diets of one of their subcultures or one of their individuals? Who is talking extreme examples? If you were to remove all of the food enrichment (adding of vitamins to our food) then more than half of America would be deficient in one vitamin or another, such as vitamin c (don't know exact numbers on this). Many groups of people have lived off animals or just one kind of crop, like corn or rice over the centuries and thousands of years before it.

Seeing as how poeple in poorer nations are more likley to starve to death it's beneficial for their bodies to not waste energy in producing a vitamin they're getting enough of for the most part. Are you trying to dispute this? Would you suggest giving starving people vitamins instead of food? Which as I last recall contains vitamins.

It's called regulation. Our bodies make chemicals, such as vitamins, when we need more of them and stop producing them when we don't. If I am not mistaken, the genes in other mammals that produce vitamin c work this way. If those starving people were already getting enough vitamin c, then their bodies wouldn't waste energy producing it. I don't believe that loosing the ability to produce vitamin c was beneficial in the long run. I just think there was a period in time when our ancestor’s population was small and there were plentiful amounts of vitamin c in their diet. I believe they lived in the jungle at the time and had their fill of vitamin c rich foods. I don't believe that vitamin c was so plentiful after they moved out into the savanna, or when they starting living off of wild meat and following herds. There is not very much vitamin c in meat and some groups of people have lived almost exclusively off of meat.

 

Answer this question: Do you believe that Homo sapiens would have been better off or worse off with a gene that produces vitamin c when it is absent and stops making it or makes small quantities when it is present in the diet? Think of all the different situations he has been in and diets that man has had over the thousands of years of his existence.

 

 

Well maybe you shouldn't be assuming that. That's not an arguement. From what I've read and I have read research on this. There are far more respectible studies debunking the use of vitamins than there are supporting it. Any search on the internet will find this information. Actually the only solid research on vitamins shows that excess of many vitamins especially the fat soluble ones can be very detrimental to your health.

 

If you do a quick search on the net you'll find that info on vitamins just a big pot of conflicting information. Except for the dangers of over consumptions which are very clear.

 

Like why not just eat a balanced diet and get all you need from that' date=' Instead of eating crap trying to compensate for it with vitamins which may or may not help and accept the risks that come from that?[/quote']

Well, if you look at what I said, I only mentioned talking a single multi-vitamin. I have seen the research on taking mega-doses as well and I agree it will probably do more harm than good. The majority of sources that I have researched recommend taking a single multi-vitamin. It's not always so easy to consume large amount of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy whole foods everyday. A multi-vitamin only has small amounts of vitamins that act as an insurance policy against deficiencies and are not likely to harm you and probably do more good than harm for the majority of people. People should eat more spinach and strawberries but they don't, and they would be better off taking a vitamin if they won't give up their McDonalds.

[Yggdrasil]

One theory on why humans and other higher organisms lost the ability to produce various compounds essential to life, such as some amino acids, vitamins, and fatty acids, is so that our cells do not have to hold the intermediate metabolites from these reactions. Taking these metabolites out of the cell, may leave room for cells of higher-organisms to hold other compounds which allow us to perform more complex functions.

[Bluenoise]

You also have to realise that some vitamins our ancestors never had the ability to produce in the first place. Take vitamin A for example. We produce Retinol from the break down of caratenoids. There are no animals at all capable of producing caratenoids, all animals need to aquire these in their diet. Production of caratenoids is complicated and involves many enzymes. Now the main reason for this is because vision (like with eyes) in animals evolved after photosynthesis did. So because retinol is produced from caratenoids which are photosynthetic pigments animals never had the need to evolve the ability to produce them themselves since by the time vision evolved these pigments were already in our diets.

 

Thought I'd just throw that in.