(🧵1 /13) The fascinating history of pellagra.

Pellagra symptoms include a skin rash, mouth sores, diarrhea, dementia, and ultimately death. It spread throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, typically in poor regions where corn was the staple, and in institutions (prisons, orphanages, and asylums). 

This thread compares the relative ease of eliminating pellagra in France in the 19th century, versus the uphill battle faced by epidemiologists in the US in the 20th century.

#Pellagra #Epidemiology #Histodon #Corn #Nixtamalization #Hominy #Colonialism #Slavery #SettlerColonialism #USHistory

Imagine feeling… off. Not just a little tired, but a deep, bone-weary exhaustion that settles in. Then, a strange, angry rash starts to appear, especially on skin that’s seen the sun. #dementia #Dermatitis #diarrhea #malnutrition #niacindeficiency #Pellagra #vitaminB3deficiency

https://priya.health/pellagra/

A couple of weeks ago an #archivist from #SouthCarolina emailed me out of the blue to tell me about a specific collection. Turns out she had #Googled “ #historian #poverty #south” and there I was.

The #collection is amazing. Shows how there was still widespread #malnutrition in the #rural #DeepSouth into the late #seventies & early #eighties.

This might be my next-next book. As #CVannWoodward said, “Mint juleps for the few, #pellagra for the crew!”

#friday #fridaymotivation #hunger #history