I'll drink to that where we get behind the scenes of the beverage business.

I'm Levy Dalton.

I'm Erin Scala and here's our show today. Oh, Have you ever wondered what humans have in common with bats, guinea pigs and the world's largest rodent, the Capibara.

And have you ever wondered what that common thread might have to do with the South African

wine trade?

Well, before we get there, let's take it way back. Early navigation got a great start in the Mediterranean Sea and sea trade flourished for millennia.

But even with great sea-fearing technology, one of the main

problems that plagued early sailors was the limits of the horizon. They could

hop around the Mediterranean, no problem, and even the time and distance on ventures into the Atlantic, they can handle that too.

But what couldn't they deal with? The lack of a fresh food supply.

Sure, you can live off dried or cooked meats and preserved foods, but if you don't get enough Vitamin C, you get the scurvy. Humans are susceptible to scurvy because of a mutant gene. It's something

that we humans and just a few other animals have learned to live with. It's kind of

crazy because the gene to make our own Vitamin C is right there in our human genome, but it's been deactivated by this pesky mutation.

You see, most animals and plants can make their own vitamin C. Their bodies produce

ascorbic acid and this is needed for collagen formation which you need for all

sorts of things including having normal blood, connective

tissue formation and bone strength. There's just a few animals in the world

that don't make their own Vitamin C. Yep, you guessed it. Bats, Guinea pigs, Capibara, and us. This makes us and those

giant rodents all susceptible to scurvy if we don't get our fix.

When you get the scurvy, first you start acting a bit strange.

Then a sudden pain hits your legs,

and your gums start to swell and hurt.

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