The Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) Conundrum

Most if not all plants contain Vitamin C even though it serves no purpose in their survival or reproduction. Of the animals that eat plants and spread the seeds, all of them except two (guinea pigs and humans) make Vitamin C as a byproduct of their own metabolism. Incidentally, this is the reason why guinea pigs are used to test if experimental drugs are safe for people. 

Given that guinea pigs branched off from the rest of mammals eons ago and all other primates do not need to consume ascorbic acid, the mutation that affects humans must have been fairly recent since homo sapiens have only been around for about 300,000 years. 

Guinea pigs adjusted to living in jungles to compensate and humans must have been spurred to horticulture and agriculture to harvest enough of this key nutrient. Early humans lived in areas where it was easy to gather plants much like the way the Shoshone, Dorobo, Yanomami and other hunter-gatherer groups do today. 

Long story short, if humans had the same metabolism as other apes, civilization would have never begun. 

In a similar way, without ascorbic acid from limes or sauerkraut, the age of exploration would have never begun. Or we'd be stuck with animal sources of ascorbic acid like the Inuit. Without the need for it, humans would have never spread to polar or tundra habitats. 

Isn't fascinating how one simple organic chemical can have such incredible effects? 

If you enjoy my take on this subject, I strongly recommend reading Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches. It's probably the most entertaining anthropology book ever written. If you're pressed for time, the film Dead Birds is worth watching.

West Papua Tribal War from Dead Birds (1964) by Robert Gardner