What happens to your body if you get scurvy?

October 16, 2025 •

4 min read

Historically, scurvy killed more sailors than battles during the Age of Sail, illustrating the devastating effects of a severe vitamin C deficiency. So, what happens to your body if you get scurvy? The body's inability to synthesize collagen leads to a systemic breakdown of connective tissues, triggering a cascade of painful and dangerous symptoms.

Quick Summary

A severe, prolonged lack of vitamin C in your diet causes scurvy by impairing collagen production throughout the body. This results in fragile blood vessels, poor wound healing, bleeding gums, bone and joint pain, fatigue, and other systemic issues.

Key Points

Collagen Synthesis Impairment: Scurvy's primary impact stems from a lack of vitamin C, which is essential for synthesizing collagen, a vital structural protein.
Widespread Bleeding: Fragile blood vessels lead to easy bruising, petechiae (small spots), and bleeding in gums, joints, and internally.
Weak Bones and Joints: Defective collagen synthesis compromises bone structure and cartilage, causing bone pain, swelling, and increased fracture risk.
Early Stage Fatigue: Symptoms often begin with severe tiredness, weakness, and low energy, which can be mistakenly attributed to other causes.
Psychological Effects: Vitamin C deficiency can cause mood changes, such as irritability and depression, which quickly resolve with treatment.
Skin and Hair Abnormalities: The skin may become rough and scaly, and hair can become coiled and break off easily, accompanied by perifollicular hemorrhages.
Rapid Recovery with Treatment: While left untreated scurvy is fatal, symptoms improve rapidly once vitamin C intake is restored through supplements or diet.

The Core Problem: Defective Collagen Synthesis

At the heart of what happens to your body if you get scurvy is a crucial biochemical failure: the impaired synthesis of collagen. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) acts as a vital cofactor for the enzymes, prolyl hydroxylase and lysyl hydroxylase, responsible for creating stable, cross-linked collagen fibers. Without enough vitamin C, the body produces weak, fragile collagen. Since collagen is the primary structural protein for skin, bones, cartilage, teeth, and blood vessels, its compromised formation affects virtually every system in the body, leading to the wide-ranging symptoms of scurvy.

The Body's Systemic Breakdown: Stages of Scurvy

Scurvy does not appear overnight; it develops over a period of at least a month of little to no vitamin C intake. The symptoms progress from vague, generalized issues to severe, life-threatening complications if left untreated. Recognizing these stages is critical for early diagnosis and treatment.

Early Symptoms (after 1-3 months)

Fatigue and Lethargy: Often the first and most common sign, severe exhaustion and weakness are linked to impaired fatty acid metabolism due to reduced carnitine production.
Irritability and Mood Swings: Changes in mental health, including irritability and depression, can occur early on and resolve quickly with treatment.
Muscle and Joint Aches: Generalized muscle pain (myalgia) and tenderness in the limbs are common as connective tissue weakens.
Poor Appetite and Weight Loss: As the body's systems slow down, a person may lose their appetite, leading to further malnutrition.

Advanced Symptoms

If the deficiency continues, the more classic and severe signs of scurvy emerge, often affecting the skin, gums, and musculoskeletal system:

Skin and Hair Changes: The skin may become rough, dry, and scaly. A hallmark sign is the development of perifollicular hemorrhages—tiny, red or blue spots around hair follicles, particularly on the legs. The hairs themselves can become coiled and corkscrewed, breaking easily. Old wounds may reopen due to a lack of proper collagen for scar tissue.
Gum Disease: The gums become swollen, spongy, and purplish-red. They bleed easily, and if left untreated, the teeth can loosen and fall out.
Bone and Joint Pain: Compromised bone structure leads to bone pain and swelling, especially in the joints. In children, this can manifest as subperiosteal hemorrhage (bleeding under the bone's outer membrane), which is extremely painful and can lead to a refusal to walk.
Anemia: Scurvy can cause anemia through multiple mechanisms, including chronic bleeding and impaired iron absorption. Vitamin C helps the body absorb nonheme iron from plant-based foods, and its deficiency hinders this process.
Easy Bruising: The fragile blood vessel walls easily rupture, leading to easy bruising (ecchymosis) and widespread bleeding under the skin.

Critical Consequences of Untreated Scurvy

Without intervention, the body's condition deteriorates further, leading to life-threatening complications. These include:

Severe jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes)
Generalized edema (swelling)
Neuropathy (nerve damage)
Internal hemorrhaging
Organ failure
Convulsions and coma
Death, often from infection or bleeding

How Scurvy Affects the Body vs. Other Nutritional Deficiencies

Comparing scurvy with other common nutritional issues highlights its unique impact on the body's structure and function.


Feature	Scurvy (Vitamin C Deficiency)	Anemia (Iron Deficiency)	Rickets (Vitamin D Deficiency)
Primary Cause	Inability to produce stable collagen.	Inadequate hemoglobin production.	Failure to mineralize bones correctly.
Hallmark Symptom	Bleeding gums, easy bruising, and poor wound healing.	Extreme fatigue, weakness, and paleness.	Soft, weakened bones leading to skeletal deformities.
Affected Body Systems	Connective tissues (skin, gums, bones, vessels), blood, and nervous system.	Blood (decreased red blood cells), energy production.	Skeletal system (bones), especially in children.
Mental Health Impact	Mood changes, irritability, and depression.	Fatigue and weakness often contribute to poor mood.	Can cause irritability in infants due to pain.

The Path to Recovery and Prevention

The prognosis for scurvy is excellent with proper treatment, typically involving oral vitamin C supplementation. Symptoms like fatigue often improve within 24 to 48 hours, while bruising and gum health recover over several weeks. Dental issues can take longer to resolve, and in severe cases, tooth loss may be permanent. The ultimate solution lies in a consistent nutrition diet that includes ample fresh fruits and vegetables. Good sources include citrus fruits, bell peppers, broccoli, and strawberries.

Conclusion: Scurvy Is a Preventable Condition

Though once a devastating plague for sailors, scurvy is now rare in developed nations but still occurs in at-risk populations. Understanding what happens to your body if you get scurvy reveals the critical role of vitamin C in maintaining the integrity of our connective tissues, blood vessels, and overall health. From initial fatigue to advanced organ failure, the progressive breakdown of the body can be entirely prevented and reversed with a simple, balanced nutrition diet rich in vitamin C. An authoritative source on vitamin C and diet further highlights the importance of this essential nutrient for preventing such severe deficiencies.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional for diagnosis and treatment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scurvy is caused by a severe, prolonged deficiency of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the diet, which the human body cannot produce on its own.

Symptoms typically begin to develop after at least one to three months of little or no vitamin C intake. Early signs are often general fatigue and mood changes, while more severe symptoms take longer to manifest.

While most symptoms of scurvy are fully reversible with treatment, severe gum disease can cause permanent dental damage and tooth loss. Untreated, advanced scurvy can be fatal.

Scurvy is typically diagnosed based on clinical symptoms, a dietary history low in vitamin C, and a rapid improvement following vitamin C supplementation. Blood tests may also be used to confirm low ascorbic acid levels.

Treatment involves immediate vitamin C supplementation, usually with high doses for the first week, followed by a lower maintenance dose. Full recovery usually occurs within one to three months.

Scurvy is easily preventable by consuming a balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables, which are excellent sources of vitamin C. Cooking can destroy vitamin C, so including raw produce is beneficial.

The earliest warning signs of scurvy are often non-specific but include malaise (general feeling of discomfort), fatigue, lethargy, irritability, and muscle aches and pains.