Tech History Made on February 4, 1915

On this day in 1915 it was discovered that proper nutrition is important, but no one cared. Many impoverished southerners were contracting an often fatal disease called pellegra. It began with mouth sores, skin rashes and diarrhea then eventually moved on to mental deterioration then death. More than 10,000 people lost their lives to pellegra in 1915. Pellegra was thought to be caused by airborne microbes.

Dr. Joseph Goldberg used volunteer inmates from Mississippi prison to test the infectiousness of pellegra. He soon discovered it was not infectious at all. If it wasn't a microbe then what was causing it?

Dr. Goldberg proceeded to monitor closely the diets of 2 control groups. He concluded that the usual diet of a poor southerner: cornbread, molasses and pork fat, lead to pellegra. A diet of meats, vegetables and milk cleared up pellegra. However, his ideas were not widely accepted. The fact that a Yankee was blaming a disease on poor southern social conditions did not sit well with many, and the medical big wigs of the day were bent on it being an airborne microbe. Finally, 20 years later, a thing called vitamins were introduced.

Composing this article makes me think about my own diet. It consists mainly of Mountain Dew and pretzels. Perhaps I'll have a salad for lunch.