Vitamin C and Evolution
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is essential for human life. Fortunately, it is easy to obtain in the Western world, and the recommended intake is less than 100 mg. It helps the immune system and is important in other areas.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when vitamin C is mentioned? For me, oranges. The average person who eats a healthy diet probably does not need a supplement, as it is found in many foods. It is not stored in our bodies. Since humans cannot synthesize vitamin C, is is suggested as evidence for evolution.
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| Assorted citrus fruits, Pixabay / Roberto Justo Kabana |
One big monkey wrench in the works is that humans and apes supposedly evolved from a common ancestor. Our closest supposed evolutionary cousin is the chimpanzee — who can synthesize ascorbic acid. From a creationist standpoint, God created everything very good, without mutations, and this difficulty may have occurred shortly after creation.
Much has been written about the loss of the ability to produce vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) in primates and its implications for evolution. What are the facts?One common evolutionary theory is that some ancient prehuman ancestor lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C. The evolutionary relatives of this alleged ancestor, including the higher primates (primarily chimpanzees and orangutans) and humans, inherited this mutated gene. Thus, evolutionists postulate that this fact proves humans and the higher primates have a common ancestor. They use this as evidence for human evolution from some higher ape. As will be reviewed, this explanation suffers from numerous problems. What is not disputed is vitamin C is a very important molecule.
After you finish your glass of juice, you can read the rest by clicking on "Why Don’t Humans Make Their Own Vitamin C?"