James Lind, a Scottish surgeon, discovered in 1747 that citrus foods, such as lemons and limes, helped prevent scurvy, a deadly disease caused by a lack of collagen formation. Lind published his findings in his 1753 book, “A Treatise of the Scurvy”, though it took many years before the British Navy adopted citrus fruits as a standard preventive measure for scurvy. Once they did, the practice virtually eliminated scurvy from long sea voyages.