The discovery of a way to prevent scurvy is credited to James Lind, a Scottish naval surgeon, in the mid-18th century. In 1747, Lind conducted a pioneering experiment aboard a British ship, the HMS Salisbury, during a voyage to the Mediterranean. He divided 12 sailors suffering from scurvy into six pairs and gave each pair different dietary supplements, such as cider, vinegar, seawater, and citrus fruits.
Lind observed that the sailors who consumed citrus fruits (lemons or oranges) showed the most significant improvement in their scurvy symptoms. This experiment demonstrated that the inclusion of vitamin C-rich foods, particularly citrus fruits, could prevent and cure scurvy, a condition caused by a deficiency of vitamin C.
However, despite Lind's discovery, it took several decades before the British Navy officially adopted the use of lemon and lime juice to prevent scurvy in sailors, largely due to resistance to implementing these findings at the time. It wasn't until the 19th century that the practice became widely recognized and adopted. The British sailors became known as "limeys" because of their regular consumption of lime juice to prevent scurvy.
