Over centuries, the English lost upwards of a million sailors to scurvy, the disease of the sea.
It took too long, but someone finally figured out that citrus fruits prevented, even cured, scurvy. It wasn’t the fruit, but the vitamin C it contained, that did the trick… a fact they’d learn much later.
But what a blessing for those sailors, to no longer see their fellows crippled and killed, to no longer fear the onset of such pain and suffering… all for the simple addition of lemons or limes to their daily diet.
And now you know why the English are nicknamed “limeys”…