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Is it true primates produce their own Vitamin C in their body?

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vitamin C synthesis is also an ancestral trait of mammals and that this trait has been lost in three mammalian lineages: bats, guinea pigs and anthropoid primates (Supplemental Table 2). read more

Man, guinea pigs and certain monkeys, unlike other mammals, cannot make their own ascorbic acid. Also see The Genetics of Vitamin C Loss in Vertebrates. vitamin C synthesis is also an ancestral trait of mammals and that this trait has been lost in three mammalian lineages: bats, guinea pigs and anthropoid primates (Supplemental Table 2). read more

Due to an inherited gene mutation, humans lost their ability to internally produce vitamin C many generation ago and are totally dependent upon dietary or supplemental sources of vitamin C to avert scurvy, a state of frank vitamin C deficiency that produces symptoms of hemorrhage (eyes, skin, kidneys, etc.), fatigue, irritability, weak bones, poor immunity, etc. read more

Simply as trivia: other than humans; guinea pigs, bats and dry-nosed primates have lost their ability to produce vitamin C in the same way. References Li, Y., Shi, C.-X., Mossman, K.L., Rosenfeld, J., Boo, Y.C. & Schellhorn, H.E. (2008) Restoration of vitamin C synthesis in transgenic Gulo-/- mice by helper-dependent adenovirus-based expression of gulonolactone oxidase. read more

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