Pellagra, arising from insufficient niacin intake, derives its name from the Italian phrase "pelle agra," translating to rough skin. Originating in the Lombard dialect of Northern Italy, this term underscores the condition's most prominent clinical feature.
In 1735, Spanish physician Don Gaspar Casal identified pellagra among peasants in Spain's Asturia region, labeling it "mal de la rosa." This ailment exhibited classic symptoms like dermatitis, diarrhea, and dementia, often resulting in fatality. Casal's posthumous work in 1762 extensively elaborated on the condition, using a Spanish term that echoed the characteristic sunburn-like skin erythema associated with pellagra.
The initial documented cases of the disease in 1755 and 1762 provided an accurate description, linking it to spoiled maize. Pellagra emerged in Italy approximately 50-100 years later, persisting widely in the country during the nineteenth century, with Lombardy reporting 39,000 cases in 1862. Serbia and Southern Russia grappled with the disease in the early 20th century.
The term "pellagra" likely made its debut in 1771 in Milan, Italy, coining the name that denotes "rough skin." Frappoli in 1771 proposed the term, possibly tracing its origins to the "pellarella" documented in Milan in 1578.
In the first half of the 19th century, societal aspects of pellagra gained attention, particularly in Liberali's 1831 studies on the manic dementia linked to the condition. Pellagra vanished from Southern France around 1880, and by 1916, it had nearly disappeared in Italy for reasons that remain unclear.
In 1922, Goldberger and Tanner suggested that pellagra resulted from an amino-acid deficiency. Joseph Goldberger, an American physician and epidemiologist, is acclaimed in American clinical epidemiology for his pellagra studies in the early 20th century.
The 1937 discovery that pellagra is caused by a deficiency in niacin (nicotinic acid), a B vitamin, highlighted that the body's synthesis of this vitamin depends on the availability of the essential amino acid tryptophan, found in milk, cheese, fish, meat, and eggs.
Pellagra: History and Discovery
Vitamins are defined as a group of complex organic compounds present in minute amounts in natural foodstuff that are essential to normal metabolism and lack of which in the diet causes deficiency diseases. Vitamins are required in trace amounts (micrograms to milligrams per day) in the diet for health, growth and reproduction.
Most Popular Articles
-
Absorption and Transport of Thiamin The bioavailability of thiamin occurring naturally in foods is believed to be high. Foods containing the...
-
The discovery of the MMADHC gene has significantly advanced our understanding of a rare but severe genetic disorder linked to vitamin B12 me...
-
Vitamin D stands out among fat-soluble vitamins because the body can synthesize it using sunlight from a precursor derived from cholesterol....
-
Vitamin E is a group of fat-soluble compounds known for their potent antioxidant properties, which play a crucial role in protecting the bod...
-
Strawberries are not just a delightful treat but a powerhouse of essential nutrients that contribute significantly to overall health. These...