Nutrition

Malnutrition, health and survival?, Measuring nutritional status?, Pathophysiological consequences of severe malnutrition?, Clinical assessment of nutrition?, Medical management within inpatient therapeutic nutrition programmes?, Inpatient therapeutic nutrition programme?, Outpatient therapeutic nutrition programme?, Supplementary feeding programmes?, HIV/AIDS and malnutrition?, Severe malnutrition in infants months old?, Pregnancy?, Nutrition in emergencies?, Recipes and formulas for management of malnourished children?, Vitamin A deficiency?, Vitamin B thiamine deficiency: beriberi?, Vitamin B riboflavin deficiency?, Vitamin B niacin deficiency: pellagra?, Vitamin B pyridoxine deficiency?, Vitamin B deficiency?, Folate deficiency?, Vitamin C deficiency: scurvy?, Vitamin D deficiency: rickets/osteomalacia?, Vitamin E alpha-tocopherol deficiency?, Vitamin K deficiency?, Iodine deficiency?, Zinc xxx, Other micronutrients?, Obesity?

Effect of niacin supplementation on nausea-like behaviour in an isoniazid-induced mouse model of pellagra

Niacin deficiency causes pellagra, the symptoms of which include dermatitis, diarrhoea and dementia. Investigating the mechanism underlying these phenotypes has been challenging due to the lack of an appropriate animal model. Here, we report a mouse model of pellagra-related nausea induced by feeding mice a low-niacin diet and administering isoniazid (INH), which is thought to induce pellagra. Mice fed a normal or low-niacin diet received INH (0.3 or 1.0 mg/mg/animal, twice daily, 5 days), and nausea was evaluated based on pica behaviour, which is considered the rodent equivalent of the emetic reflex. Furthermore, the effect of therapeutic niacin administration on nausea was evaluated in this model. Urinary and hepatic metabolite levels were analysed by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. INH-induced pica was observed in mice fed a low-niacin diet but not in those fed a normal diet. Levels of urinary metabolites, such as 1-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide, kynurenic acid and xanthurenic acid, were significantly reduced in the mice treated with INH compared with those that did not receive INH. Furthermore, niacin supplementation prevented pica and restored the levels of some metabolites in this mouse model. Our findings suggest that INH-related nausea is pellagra-like. We also believe that our newly established method for quantifying pica is a useful tool for investigating the mechanisms of pellagra-related nausea.

Pellagra in South Africa from 1897 to 2019: a scoping review

Objective: Pellagra is a nutritional deficiency disease associated with niacin (vitamin B3) deficiency. The history of pellagra is well documented for Europe and the USA, but less is known about the prevalence in sub-Saharan African countries. This study documents the history of pellagra in South Africa, as diagnosed based on dermatological symptoms. Design: Narrative review of information from scientific databases, library archives, other archives and record services and from Statistics South Africa. Setting: South Africa, 1897-2019. Participants: South African Results: Pellagra was first officially recorded in South Africa in 1906, but there are earlier indications of the disease. The prevalence of pellagra peaked after it was all but eradicated in the USA and Europe. Pellagra was never as prevalent in South Africa as in Europe, the USA and Egypt, where special hospitals for pellagrins were established. However, studies on urinary excretion of metabolites conducted in 1960s and 1970s suggested a high prevalence of subclinical (sub-pellagra) niacin deficiency, especially in previously disadvantaged Black populations. As in Europe and the USA, pellagra was associated with poverty and an overdependence on maize as staple food. Malnutrition was the main cause of the disease, but alcohol abuse might have been a contributing factor. In South Africa, reports of pellagra had declined by the late 1980s/early 1990s, and hardly any cases were reported by the year 2000. Conclusions: Although pellagra, diagnosed based on dermatological symptoms, appears to be largely eradicated in South Africa, it does not rule out the potential for subclinical niacin deficiency.

Dietary niacin affects intestinal morphology and functions via modulating cell proliferation in weaned piglets

Niacin deficiency leads to inflammation of mucous membranes and diarrhoea.There are few reports on the effects of niacin on the intestinal health of weaned piglets. The present study was conducted...

Aetiological doctrines and prevalence of pellagra: 18th century to middle 20th century

Pellagra is characterised by dermatological, gastrointestinal and neuropsychiatric manifestations. Millions contracted the disease and hundreds of thousands died between the time it was first recorded until pellagra was finally recognised as a niacin-deficiency disease. Pellagra became epidemic when maize, with its limited bio-availability of nutrients such as niacin and tryptophan, became the staple food in the near-monophagic diets of the impoverished and institutionalised. By the mid-20th century, pellagra was all but eradicated in large parts. The decline in prevalence can largely be ascribed to a better understanding of the link between nutrition and disease, improvements in socio-economic conditions of workers and food enrichment. We briefly review aetiological doctrines on pellagra and the global spread of the disease from the early 18th century until the middle of the 20th century. In the final analysis, we examine the reasons for, and the legitimacy of, the persistent association between pellagra and the consumption of maize.