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Pine tree bark has a 450-year-old legend surrounding it. There is a written account of an event that happened in 1534, when a French ship led by explorer Jacques Cartier became stranded in ice near Quebec, Canada. Cartier's crew became severely sick from scurvy, which used to be a fatal disease caused by a lack of vitamin C in the diet. Cartier's crew was saved when a Quebec Indian instructed them to drink a brew made from pine bark and needles. Four centuries later, a French researcher named Jacques Masquelier discovered the reason for the effectiveness of this remedy. A substance found in pine tree bark acts as an antioxidant in the body, and greatly increases the effectiveness of the vitamin C found in the pine needles.
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