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Singer James Blunt has revealed he once developed scurvy after adopting a carnivore diet to annoy vegans, says a report by the Independent.
Scurvy, which is caused by extreme vitamin C deficiency, causes symptoms including bleeding gums, rotting teeth, and fatigue among others. A full recovery is usually possible by returning fruits and vegetables to the diet.
James Blunt scurvy
Blunt, known for hits like You’re Beautiful, developed the condition in the mid-1990s while studying aerospace manufacturing engineering and sociology at the University of Bristol.
According to the musician, he ate nothing but meat and condiments for two months, with The Times saying his diet was ‘an effort to assert his masculinity as some of his degree classes were dominated by women’.
Carnivore
“On the sociology side of things there were 170 girls and only three boys, of which all the girls were vegetarian or vegans,” Blunt said. “So out of principle I decided I’d become a carnivore and just lived on mince, some chicken, maybe with some mayonnaise.
“And it took me about six to eight weeks to get very unhealthy and see a doctor, who then said, ‘I think you’ve got the symptoms of scurvy’. He said, ‘You are really lacking in vitamin C,’ so I took it upon myself to drink orange juice every night – then I nearly developed acid reflux.”
