The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-21
FIGHTING PELLAGRA

hODeTL SKcETeItr III A4CoAAS ?.
 Pellagra is something of a paradox It. is both bane and potential blessing Admitting it's ravages and its trail of more or less prolonged sickness, the study of pellagra here has brought to light facts that can be utilized in guiding the snation at large to greater health and vigor.
 Pellagra may not seem a scourge when viewed familiarly by the peo- pie, of the south, but it is neverthe- less q menace to our hygenic and in dustrial welfare. No nation can be indifferent to the illness or invaliding of 100000 or more of It's inhabitants or make light of a disease that is apt to carry off from 5000 to 10000 persons in the course of single tweive-month. And here in the United States. a land of acknowledged plenty, we should be especially dis turbed when we learn that this toll is due to the eating of the wrong sorts of food.
 After years of research, tho U. 5. public health service has said in sub stance that the only thing needed to cure pellagra and to root 1t out in America is the adoption of suitable diet wherever the disorder prevailss The positiveness of this assertion rests upon investigations and labor atory work prosecuted by federal of- ficials for the better part of de- cade. This certainly is simple so- luton of a problem that has con- fronted Europe with varying cause for alarm ever since the discovery of the malady in Spain in 1735.
 There is 8 tendency to ascribe peilagra to enforced economies, to poverty. The following evidences to the contrary are cited to disprove this and also to make 1t clear that healthful surroundings arc not a safeguard against the disease if the diet be unsuitable. At two places in North Carolina, remote from the usual peilagrous districts, and at al- titudes ranging from 2,S00 to S,10o feet above sea level, the malady ap- peared One sufferer was the wife of & well to do farmer. It seems she had never eaten meat and a while before she was afflicted she took strong dislike to milk and butter, and raraly touched them. Her diet, of her own choosing, consisted principally of pastries and delicacies, with vegetables of some sort acca- sionally. The second pellegrin. also woman, was accustomed to plenty of milk, butter, home-produced meats poultry and vegetables. While away on a visit to her daughter her fare consisted of dishes prepared from corn meal, wheat flour. salt pork, po- tatoes, rice, syrup. and canned goods. She became pellagrous, but was soon restored to health when she returned home where she could have & normal, balanced diet.
 And now that we know that pella- gra can be effectually dealt with ClTeu anu pg SN't@SAS even if modest fare--the question will be asked: What is 1t about pro- tein which is so essential to our bodily well-being and why do we suffer when the percentage of 1t in our food Is lowT'
 Protein compounds are the prin- cipal tissue formers. the prime body builders of the human organism Without them our framework would be stunted during the formative period and nesdful repairs would not be made at any time to>offset the drains imposed by mental, muscular, or nervous efforts. And right here it should be said that protein occurs both in vegetable and in animal foods, but 1t. seems that the protein from. the latter source is more readily digested and> utilized in the human body than protein of vegetable origin.