There’s a kernel of truth in the saying ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’. We’ve known that a diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables is good for us long before we could identify the actual nutrients. Vitamin C wasn’t officially discovered until 1912, but we knew citrus fruits could cure scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency) since the golden seafaring age.
The Royal Navy began prescribing lemon juice to sailors around 1795, however there’s much earlier evidence that Chinese ships carried ginger for the same purpose from 406 CE. Vitamin C is a wonder nutrient that can prop up the immune system,