Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A disease caused by a deficiency of niacin and protein in the diet and characterized by skin eruptions, digestive and nervous system disturbances, and eventual mental deterioration.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An endemic disease of southern Europe, characterized by erythema, digestive derangement, and nervous affections. It exhibits vernal recurrences or exacerbations, and is frequently fatal after a few years. Also spelled
pelagra .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Med.) An affection of the skin, characterized by redness, especially in exposed areas, scaling and shedding of the skin, and accompanied with severe gastrointestinal disturbance and nervous symptoms. It is due to a deficiency of niacin (vitamin B3; nicotinic acid) and protein in the diet, and may be caused by malnutrition, or, in some cases, by a heavy dependence on maize for food. It was at one time (ca. 1890) endemic in Northern Italy, and was called
Alpine scurvy . It may also be caused by alcoholism or diease causing an impairment of nutrition. It is also calledSt. Ignatius's itch ,maidism ,mal de la rosa ,mal rosso , andpsychoneurosis maidica . A variety ofpellagra seen in children is calledinfantile pellagra orkwashiorkor .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun pathology A
disease , withskin lesions andmental confusion, primarily caused by aniacin deficiency .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a disease caused by deficiency of niacin or tryptophan (or by a defect in the metabolic conversion of tryptophan to niacin); characterized by gastrointestinal disturbances and erythema and nervous or mental disorders; may be caused by malnutrition or alcoholism or other nutritional impairments
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So you think a lot of what they called pellagra might a been something else.
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Do you ever remember people having this disease they call pellagra?
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Likewise in pellagra the gastro-intestinal symptoms are responsive.
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A different deficiency disease called pellagra struck the rural poor in Europe and the southern United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they adopted corn from Central and South America as a staple food, but without the processing method cooking in alkaline water that makes its stores of niacin available to the human body.
On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004
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A different deficiency disease called pellagra struck the rural poor in Europe and the southern United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they adopted corn from Central and South America as a staple food, but without the processing method cooking in alkaline water that makes its stores of niacin available to the human body.
On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004
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Tuttle says Jake must be mistaken because the pellagra is a kind of a
Somewhere in Red Gap Harry Leon Wilson 1903
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_ -- It is known that a very curious and fatal disease called pellagra is prevalent to a considerable degree at the present time in the United States, and it is not going too far to say that all of those best capable of judging are of the opinion that the malady is the result of eating just such corn as we know kills horses.
Health on the Farm A Manual of Rural Sanitation and Hygiene 1896
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At that time, a disease called pellagra, characterized by cracked, scaly, discolored skin, digestive problems, and overall bodily weakness was increasingly prevalent in the southern region of the country.
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Deficiency results in a condition called pellagra, the symptoms of which are a dark, scaly skin rash, a bright red tongue, vomiting, diarrhea, apathy, depression, disorientation, and memory loss.
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Further, he supposed that, just as all the constituents of proteins (i.e. amino acids) belong to the same chemical class, so would the organic trace nutrients whose deficiencies were being envisioned as the causes of diseases such as pellagra and scurvy, in addition to beriberi.
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