The American South was plagued by a condition that resulted in scaly skin sores, diarrhea, inflamed mucous membranes, dementia, and death during the early part of the 20th century. The condition had been identified in other parts of the world for hundreds of years but was not conclusively identified as “pellagra” in the United States until 1902. Pellagra haunted the Southern states in epidemic proportions, although the cause was unknown.
The only factors that researchers could link to the prevalence of the condition were poverty and large amounts of corn consumption. It is the interesting history behind this once mysterious condition and its cure that has sparked the curiosity of George Labanick, a biology professor at USC Spartanburg. Labanick will use the research and information on pellagra and its history in South Carolina as part of his biology instruction.
Several pellagra studies were conducted at South Carolina’s Pellagra hospital established in 1910. Nonetheless, South Carolina reported a mortality rate of 40 percent and 30,000 deaths by 1912. In 1914, Joseph Goldberger of the U.S. Public Health Service determined that the cause of pellagra is a nutritional deficiency. It was not until after Goldberger’s death that niacin (vitamin B3) was identified as the deficiency that causes pellagra.
Pellagra’s direct link to poverty forced Goldberger to label the condition as a socioeconomic disease. His accusations led to political backlash, fronted by S.C. Sen. James F. Byrnes, when Southern politicians would not acknowledge that their states were poor and starving. However, offended politicians did not stop the war on pellagra.
University of Wisconsin agricultural chemist Conrad A. Elvehjem discovered in 1937 that niacin (also known as nicotinic acid) could be extracted from food and used as a dietary supplement. Subsequently, South Carolina and many other states passed a law that bread would be fortified with niacin as a more consumer friendly treatment for pellagra, rather than having to greatly increase protein intake.
Labanick has his student’s research pellagra, including its symptoms, the major role that vitamins play in the condition, and the local devastation and political ramifications as part of their biology curriculum. Some of Labanick’s lessons compare current claims and advertisements of diet pills to local Spartanburg Herald-Journal (1911) advertisements for phony, expensive pellagra treatments.
In addition, Labanick and his students study a pedigree produced from Spartanburg families of 1916 to demonstrate an environmental role in pellagra. “We use the pedigree to show that apparent transmission of a trait in a pedigree may occur for reasons other than genetics, such as common diet and living conditions,” he said.
Labanick will continue to use pellagra and its unforgettable place in Southern history as a teaching tool in biology classes at USC Spartanburg, while furthering his research throughout the summer.
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George Labanick, biology, USC Spartanburg,
