The consequences of insufficient vitamin C intake have been recorded throughout history, yet ascorbate (ASC) was not isolated and recognized as the anti-scorbutic factor until 1932. The complementary findings of the research groups of Charles King and Albert Szent-Gyorgyi led to the discovery of vitamin C as the anti-scorbutic factor in 1932. Szent-Gyorgyi was awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work in isolating vitamin C as the antiscorbutic factor, and Walter Norman Haworth was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry the same year. Although the need for small amounts of vitamin C to prevent scurvy is widely recognized, optimal intakes of vitamin C with respect to disease prevention and treatment remain controversial. Pharmacokinetic and physiologic responses to vitamin C are known to vary considerably between individuals and optimal intakes for children, older adults, and those suffering from acute and chronic diseases remain to be determined.