Preface
Mysterious Diseases Caused by Lack of Vitamins
Great Findings Arise from Raising Chickens
Vitamin C and B were Discovered
Vitamin B2--- the Second Water Soluble B Nutrient
Corn Pellagra and Niacin a Member of Vitamin B Complex
Search for Treatment of Pernicious Anemia
Sunshine Vitamin D and Rickets
Night Blindness and Vitamin A
Bringing Forth Offspring Vitamin E
Blood Clotting and Vitamin K
Take Care of Your Vitamin Intake
In the early part of the 18th century when Europeans mainly consumed corn grain, a disease characterized by red, rough skin began to appear. The disease was called pellagra and almost became epidemic in southern Europe by the early part of the 1900s. Many people thought pellagra was an infectious disease caused by eating decayed corn or that flies contaminated corn because out breaks of the malady were more severe during the fly hatch season. In another part of the world, Latin Americans also consumed corn, but less pellagra was found. An American physician, Joseph Goldberger, believed that pellagra was simply a dietary deficiency. He performed an experiment with the diets of children in a Mississippi orphanage who suffered from pellagra and volunteers from a Mississippi prison farm. Both groups ate lean meat, milk, eggs or yeast and their pellagra disappeared. In 1937, Dr. Conrad elvehjem cured dogs with pellagra by giving them nicotinic acid, a form of niacin, which acts as coenzyme to help the body produce energy. Because corn is deficient in tryptophan, it inhibits niacin absorption. However, in Latin American countries, since they combine cornmeal with the mineral lime when making tortillas, the alkalinity of the lime frees the niacin so that it can be absorbed.