The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-12-18
Your Health
 By WILLIAM BRADY. M. D.
PELLAGRA

Pellagra, pronounced pel-lay-gra, iust as dikitalis is pronounced digi- tay-lis (sometimes I suspect Web ster does 1t just to sell more of his books), is not e clear-cut disease but just e name applied for con- venience to certain manifestations of nutritional deficiency, the most familiar of which is a characteristic roughness of the skin (Italian belle, skin, and agro, rough), particularly over the backs of the hands and wrists, on the face and neck. These skin manifestation resemble and are often mistaken for skinburn or ong-lasting effects of skinburn.
 Other common symptoms" of pellagra are diarrhea and dementie in fact some physicians think ot the three D's as the classic picture of pellaRra--Dermatitis (the skin lesions), Diarhhea and Dementia. In many instances only one or per- haps two of these manifestations may be evident, ell three perhaps in extreme or long neglected cases.
 Dementia means any deterioration in mental health or soundness, from the mildest degree of odd or pecu- liar behavior or attitude to utter delirium or madness. don't know about you, but abstractly have no doubt I'm a little nutty along this and that line at this moment, al- though like most demented indivi- duals, think my ideas are reaSon- able and everybody else is crazy. For you see there is no clear-cut dividing line between sanity and in- sanity--a lot of us are wandering around in the non-man's land just waiting to be tagged and hustled away to the appropriate institution or shown the way back home.
 Tn a large hospital in Birming- ham, Alabama, according to Mo- Lester Nutrition and Diet in Health and Disease) 'an appreciable num- Der of pellagrins gave @ history of having admitted to the hospital in previous years with the diagnosis of neurasthenia." That may give you some idea of the degree of "demen- tia" in the ordinary case of pellagra. Just what "neurasthenia" is, I have never been able to learn-if it is anything more than a convenient way for the doctor to duck the diagnosis.
 Indigestion, poor appetite. loss of weight, general weakness, lassitude, irritability, depression, forgetfulness, palpitation, vertigo or dizziness, in- somnia, fiightiness, etc, are frequent manifestations in pellagra. Infants and children are subject to this nutritional deficiency as are adults and old folks.
 Lack of, or inadequate amount of niacin (formerly called nicotinic acidD in the diet is the chief cause of pellagra. Foods that supply the most of this vitamin are liver, fresh meat, plain wheat (not refined wheat products), peanuts. Dried brewers yeast (non-fermenting, does not produce gas) contains more niacin than any food, and quantt- ties of 1t (from a heaping table spoonful to three to four tablespoon | 1uAb QAAy, AAl ACCU AAAAA OA CB8ASBI are valuable in the treatment of pellagra.
 For a long while physicians sus- pected something in corn caused pellagra. Only in the last few years have nutrition chemists found that corn contains an anti-vitamin. substance that antagOnizes or neu- tralize or inhibits the physiological action of niacin and hence renders the individual who eats much corn or corn meal products more likely to suffer from manifestations of pellagra (niacin deficiency) that he or she would be if rice or wheat were used in place of corn or corn meal in the diet.
 There, children-almogt, anybody should be able to devel0psa touch of pellagra by adopting the symp- toms or complaints I have mention- ed-that thought haunts me always when I try to tell what everybody should know about this bCrderland between health and disease.