bleeding gums

A vitamin C deficiency, also know as scurvy, occurs when an animal lacks the hepatic (liver) enzyme called 1-gulonolactone oxidase necessary for the conversion of L-gulonolactone to L-ascorbic acid or vitamin C, and cannot store the vitamin to any appreciable extent in the body. Essentially three groups of animals lack this enzyme and they include man, monkeys, and the guinea pig.