Pellagra

Pellagra is a disease caused by severe niacin deficiency. It can cause dermatitis, diarrhea, and cognitive or neurological symptoms.

Niacin deficiency: A shortage of vitamin B3, including niacin and its related form nicotinamide, in the body. Pellagra is the severe disease state that can result when this shortage persists.
Niacin: A water-soluble B vitamin, also called vitamin B3, required to make NAD and NADP. Insufficient niacin is the direct nutritional basis of pellagra.
Joseph Goldberger: A U.S. physician who demonstrated that pellagra was associated with diet rather than contagion. His investigations shifted the explanation of pellagra toward nutritional deficiency.
Nicotinic acid: A chemical form of vitamin B3 used in the body to make NAD and NADP. Supplemental nicotinic acid can treat pellagra by restoring niacin availability.
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide: A coenzyme, abbreviated NAD, that carries electrons in cellular redox reactions. Niacin supplies precursors for NAD, whose depletion impairs energy metabolism in pellagra.
Corn: A cereal grain whose niacin is largely bound in forms poorly available to humans unless processed appropriately. Diets heavily reliant on untreated corn can provide too little bioavailable niacin.
Connie Goldberger: A nurse and public-health researcher who collaborated with Joseph Goldberger on pellagra investigations. She participated in dietary studies that helped test the disease’s noninfectious origin.
Nicotinamide: A form of vitamin B3 used to make NAD and commonly administered as a supplement. It treats niacin deficiency without the flushing commonly caused by nicotinic acid.
Pellagra dermatitis: A photosensitive skin eruption associated with pellagra, often affecting exposed areas. Its distribution and sun sensitivity are distinctive clues to the disease.
Nixtamalization: A process that cooks and soaks maize in an alkaline solution, improving its nutritional properties. It releases bound niacin from maize and helps explain differing pellagra risks across food traditions.

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