James Blunt developed scurvy after eating only meat for two months at university.
Speaking on Jessie Ware’s podcast Table Manners, Blunt recalled starting his carnivorous diet "out of principle" when he found himself surrounded by vegan and vegetarian classmates in Bristol in the Nineties.
The 46-year-old musician, who was studying aerospace manufacturing, engineering and sociology, told Ware, “On the sociology side of things there were 170 girls and only three boys, of which all the girls were vegetarian or vegans.
“So out of principle I decided to become a carnivore and just lived on mince, some chicken, maybe some mayonnaise.”
Six to eight weeks later, Blunt began to feel the repercussions of the meat-only diet and saw a doctor, who the singer remembers saying: “I think you’ve got the symptoms of scurvy."
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C and is easily treated by eating fruit and vegetables.
The “You’re Beautiful” artist continued: “[The doctor] said you are really lacking in vitamin C so I took it upon myself to drink orange juice every night – then I nearly developed acid reflux.”
The singer released his latest album Once Upon a Mind in October last year.
