Pellagra iron deficiency

The enrichment of salt with iodine, the fortification of milk with vitamin D, and the start of the thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and iron, grain enrichment program in 1941, have played a significant role in the practical elimination of the following deficiency diseases simple goiter, rickets, beriberi, ariboflavi-nosis, pellagra and simple iron-deficiency anemia. The average American receives approximately 40% of his thiamin, 25% of his iron, 20% of his niacin and 15% of his riboflavin from enriched foods. 

The history of niacin revolved around trying to find a way to prevent and cure pellegra, the late-stage deficiency disease caused by a niacin deficiency. Pellagra has been a serious nutritional disorder in the United States, mostly in the southeast. Two thousand deaths from pellagra were reported in 1941. This is ironic because nicotinic acid, later knovm as niacin, was first reported during the structure elucidation of the alkaloid nicotine. 

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