Posted on July 16, 2021
This is an update of my post published on July 16, 2010:
Born on this day in 1874, in Hungary, Joseph Goldberger came over to the U.S. with his parents in 1883. He became a doctor and studied diseases (which means he was an epidemiologist), and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize five times for his work on the disease called pellagra.
When Goldberger was asked to study pellagra, most doctors thought it was an infectious disease that spread from person to person. However, Goldberger thought it was related to diet. He did some careful restricted-diet experiments with volunteers—studies that spanned several years—and Goldberger was able to show that people who had diets of mostly corn and corn products were at a greatly-increased risk to get the disease.
By 1928 Goldberger was able to determine that it was a Vitamin B3 (niacin) deficiency that caused pellagra.
Unfortunately, Goldberger died the next year of cancer.
Foods high in niacin include eggs, meat, avocados, tomatoes, leafy vegetables, broccoli, carrots, nuts, legumes, and mushrooms (plus many more!).
Quick Quiz
Which of these diseases is caused by a vitamin deficiency (but of another vitamin, other than B3)?
1. rickets
2. pneumonia
3. flu
4. scurvy
ANSWERS:
(1) Rickets is Vitamin D deficiency.
(4) Scurvy is Vitamin C deficiency.
Find Out More
Here is a website with info about vitamins and what they do in our bodies. There are lots of other health topics to click on, too!
A simple, fun approach to vitamins is this You Tube video!
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