>
>Important, certainly, but not everything.
>
>The point: subordinate male baboons in the wild can suffer so much
>psychological stress that they develop peptic ulcers, hardening of the
>arteries, and heart disease. So much for Mother Nature's endowment of
>perfect health.

But all primates -- man, baboons, apes --suffer from inborn hypoascorbemia,
the metabolic inability to generate endogenously the ascorbate ion. So it's
only to be expected that the nonhuman primates also share Man's
stress-related diseases, most if not all of which deplete body ascorbate
levels, leading to impaired immune function, lipo (a) deposits
onto damaged/weakened arterial walls, etc.

Now if Bonzo the baboon managed to get a lot more ascorbate-rich fruit
in his diet, Adolph the Alpha Male baboon could play his dominance
games without sickening Bonzo & his fellow lessers. But who said
baboons are any smarter in that respect? Human beings won't take
more ascorbate even when they know more is needed under stress.

The genetic mutation necessitating exogenous ascorbate in the diet
no doubt had an advantage at some time in the dim past, but it's time
we got over it. Eat more ascorbate & let's find other problems
to dwell on.

BTW I generally refuse to use the term "vitamin C"; "ascorbate" is
also a bit narrow but at least it doesn't group this remarkable
substance with the "true" vitamins.