Word: pellagra
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Keynote of the meeting was sounded by Dr. Conrad Elvehjem of Wisconsin (originator of nicotinic-acid treatment for pellagra), who said: "Many of the deficiency diseases . . . are multiple deficiencies...
...researcher last week: "Giving vitamins to the children of Spain would help hardly at all. What they need I is not better quality, but more quantity -something to stick to their ribs, more bread, more meat, more vegetables. From our study so far, we have found little evidence of pellagra, little lack of vitamins A and C." Though the Spaniards may not have time to appreciate the difference, "technically they die of undernourishment, not malnutrition...
Nicotinic acid, one of the elements of the Vitamin B complex, is found in liver, yeast, milk, green vegetables, fish and lean meat. It is a cure for pellagra, a diet-deficiency disease common in the southern U. S. but virtually unknown in Britain. Since the filmy, bleeding gums of trench mouth are similar to the symptoms of early pellagra, Dr. King had a hunch that trench mouth, too, might be caused by nicotinic acid deficiency which broke down gum tissue, paved the way for bacterial invasion. So he fed small amounts of the acid dissolved in water...
Vincent's disease, Dr. King concluded, may be a form of "pre-pellagra." Yet, since most Englishmen eat plenty of lean meat and fish, he found it "difficult to understand how there could be a [nicotinic acid] deficiency." Perhaps, he suggested, some people for unknown chemical reasons cannot absorb nicotinic acid from their food and need an extra supply...
...Vitamin B complex (consisting of some 15 related vitamins): for pellagra, and for deafness caused by deterioration of the auditory nerve...