Talk:Pellagra

Endemic = located
Could someone please change the sentence "Pellagra is an endemic disease located in ..." to "Pellagra is an endemic disease in"? When you say "endemic" you already imply the term located and it would be redundant to repeat it. Thanks. 85.178.31.153 (talk) 10:04, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Oops, sorry, just realized the article isn't locked after all. Will change it myself. 85.178.31.153 (talk) 10:05, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Lysine and Niacin
Niacin deficiency can occur when both niacin and tryptophan intakes are low (tryptophan can be converted to niacin in the human body). Lysine, AFAIK, has nothing to do with all that. The niacin page doesn't even mention it, either. Aragorn2 17:12, 15 May 2005 (UTC)


 * This dubious claim has been removed from the article - no references on the web. Exabyte (talk)&shy; 03:48, Jun 5, 2005 (UTC)

Is this problem resolved? The article says a lack of niacin and tryptophan causes pellagra, but then says a lack of available lysine in untreated corn is the problem. The link between those two statements is unclear. Lobosolo 02:29, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Also, the Joseph Goldberger link redirects to here. Shouldn't there be a separate Goldberger entry, even if it's brief? Lobosolo 02:29, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Well, as you can see the problem is not resolved. The Lysine article says that lack of lysine causes deficiency in niacin. Some quick googling gave me this: The absence of the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, however, make half of the niacin in corn indigestible.
 * Some more research is probably needed. Feel free to amend the article, or I will at some other time.
 * Regarding Goldberger, it's stupid to link a redirect back; however, I would avoid creating a substub. Conf 12:59, 4 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I took a stab at rewriting that section for clarity. I couldn't find much support for the lysine theory, so I de-emphasized it. If you get a chance, take a look at it and see if it works for you. --Arcadian 17:41, 9 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Anyone want to take a stab at that Goldberger entry? MarcoTolo 00:07, 8 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Okay, I created a separate Joseph Goldberger entry - have at it.... MarcoTolo 01:00, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

caused by hexachlorobenzene?
See hexachlorobenzene: "American Pellagra was a disease affecting 250,000 people between 1900-1950 caused by hexochlorobenzene residue from new bleaching and degermination procedures for corn and wheat. Hexachlorobenzene was banned from use in the United States in 1966." --Espoo 09:07, 4 May 2006 (UTC)


 * This seems to be wrong. I removed the sentence. Icek 21:19, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

What's happening?
It tells symptoms and what is going on superfically but it never mentions whats causing these symptoms and what Pellagra actually is doing to the body. Would someone please add, or explain why it shouldn't. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.177.232.2 (talk • contribs) 02:39, 14 February 2007


 * It's a niacin deficiency (from lack of both niacin and it's synthetic precursors). If you mean the mechanistic reasons - [eg. for scurvy, vitC deficiency leads to defects in collagen production and stability] - I'm not your guy. My textbooks all suggest they haven't actually been identified.60.226.133.172 06:18, 21 June 2007 (UTC)


 * The most obvious reason is prostaglandine deficiency (Niacin triggers prostaglandine production). However there may also be other causes for the deseases. 178.197.236.220 (talk) 23:18, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Rankin
The link to Rankin goes to a disambiguation page. I can't tell which Rankin it refers to. Ben (talk) 21:26, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

needs microanatomy/ histology images with explanation of microscopic findings of the dermatitis
needs microanatomy/ histology images with explanation of microscopic findings of the dermatitis Tkjazzer (talk) 20:46, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

First Described
according to the site which i listed in list of eponymous medical signs under casal's collar, the disease was first described by françois thiery in 1755, by casal in 1762. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Toyokuni3 (talk • contribs) 05:02, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

What was common in the Gulag?
Some clarification is necessary in the last three sentences in the Epidemiology section, which state "The amino acid deficiency must be balanced by consumption of other sources of protein. It was common amongst prisoners of Soviet labor camps, the infamous Gulag. It can be found in cases of chronic alcoholism." It's not clear whether the "it" in the last two sentences refers to "the amino acid deficiency" that's mentioned in the first of these three sentences or to Pellagra itself. --noosph e re 01:36, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Removal of death as symptom/3 D's
I've removed death and converted the 4 D's to the more realistic and commonly used 3 D's. Death should not be part of the mnemonic or memory aid, since failure of any vitamin, by its very nature, will cause death. Adding death to the list is redundant and frankly fairly stupid. Why would it be that if someone dies you then have to begin considering pellagra? I immplore educators to change, like almost all new textbooks, to the 3 D's; indeed the referenced source uses 3 D's itself. Cheers.--Cpt ricard (talk) 07:12, 9 February 2010 (UTC) "It reminds medical students that it is important to keep pellagra in the differential. 99.48.75.121 (talk) 17:14, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Pellagra is not common in Mexico
Mexicans created the nixtamalization process, which avoids pellagra. In fact, the lack of pellagra in Mexico and other Latin American countries lead scientists to find out that nixtamalization was a required grain treatment for corn intended for human consumption. Pallagra may be common anywhere else, maybe even the U. S., but not in Mexico. 24.44.93.16 (talk) 15:05, 9 April 2010 (UTC)--24.44.93.16 (talk) 15:05, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Is Niacin really Vitamin B3?
Why does this article begin with the (admittedly common] misconception that niacin can be known as Vitamin B3, a point which some dietary experts would dispute today? ACEOREVIVED (talk) 23:34, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Nixtamalized maize is as deficient in tryptophan as before
"Pellagra can be common in people who obtain most of their food energy from maize (often called "corn"), notably rural South America where maize is a staple food. If maize is not nixtamalized, it is a poor source of tryptophan as well as niacin."

This statement is wrong. Nixtamalization will do nothing to increase corn low tryptophan levels since corn is simply deficient in tryptophan in this essential amino acid. I'll correct if nobody else has any objection. 81.60.184.222 (talk) 19:32, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
 * If that's true then nixtamalization just creates free form niacin in maize as in the article nixtamalization described. This should be written more clear in the articles...as you wrote. 178.197.236.220 (talk) 23:07, 16 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it looks like there isn't much Tryptophan but a lot of bound niazin in maize: http://www.google.ch/search?q=niacin+maize. Next time I cook my corn with lime. ;)178.197.236.220 (talk) 23:13, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Prognosis
The Prognosis section needs work. It does not cover the case when treatment is given, only when treatment is not given. Are the symptoms and long-term harm reversed upon treatment or are they permanent?CountMacula (talk) 20:25, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Are wild deer affected?/Corn on the cob?
Wild deer in much of North America take corn as a large part of their diets. Are they affected by pellagra? If not, why not?

What about people eating corn on the cob?

Does it matter whether the grain is mature?CountMacula (talk) 05:15, 27 October 2012 (UTC)


 * It's causes by an all-corn diet. Not by a mostly-corn diet.
 * It's caused by a nutritional deficiency, not by corn itself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.237.18.132 (talk) 19:51, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

"Despite all his efforts..."
"Despite all his efforts few physicians took up his ideas due to necessity of social reform, especially in the land system of that time, which led to many avoidable deaths and stereotypes."

There's no explanation or elaboration on this sentence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.0.107.211 (talk) 02:11, 8 June 2013 (UTC)


 * That sentence comes from:
 * http://history.nih.gov/exhibits/goldberger/docs/south_6.htm
 * which goes on to say:
 * "If poor diet resulting from poverty among Southern tenant farmers and mill workers was the root cause of pellagra, then the only real cure was social reform, especially changes in the land tenure system. A dramatic drop in cotton prices in 1920 and the attendant decrease in the income of many Southerners occasioned a spike in the number of reported pellagra cases. Goldberger publicly predicted dire public health consequences for 1921 when there might be as many as 100,000 pellagra cases including 10,000 deaths and even worse for 1922." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.237.18.132 (talk) 19:49, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

Mild forms of Pellagra are much common
Also in developed countries mild forms of Pellagra are much common. I know this because I suffered more than 10 years from it. It took me those 10 years how to become healthy again, to find out that I need niacin! For treatment I take 2 doses with 1,5g niacin everyday, and my chronique fatigue and also my skin problems just went away. So flushing is joyful, it's like an immun reaction and makes you healthy. I would appreciate if other people who experienced mild forms of Pellagra would help to improve this article.178.197.225.71 (talk) 11:47, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Niacytin
Pellagra currently argues for the theory that corn contains niacin in the form of a hemicellulose-bound "niacytin" that can be liberated by nixtamalization. However, one secondary~tertiary source cited by the nixtamalization article, specifically FAO 1992, seems to quite clearly refute this mechanism of action for nixtamal using multiple sources. It's much more likely that the anti-pellagra action is due to a difference in the digestibility of tryptophan-containing proteins.

There is, however, insufficient information on the effect of germ removal from FAO 1992. The section on Arepas seems suggest that germ removal is associated with a reduction of protein quality (and with "Chavez (1972b)", specifically a loss of tryptophan), but I doubt we can use it to say much about the Beall degerminator.

Artoria2e5 🌉 05:30, 17 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Brilliant, we should blame 81.60.184.222 for this. I am going to drink some beer, privately yell WP:NOTHUMAN out loud, and just bulldoze over all that. Yayyy! Artoria2e5 🌉 05:32, 17 April 2024 (UTC)