The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Master's Theses Spring 2019 Maize and Bone: An Evaluation and Expansion of a Proposed Model for the Differential Diagnosis of Pellagra in Human Remains Myra G. Miller University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses Part of the Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Miller, Myra G., "Maize and Bone: An Evaluation and Expansion of a Proposed Model for the Differential Diagnosis of Pellagra in Human Remains" (2019). Master's Theses. 639. https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/639 This Masters Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MAIZE AND BONE: AN EVALUATION AND EXPANSION OF A PROPOSED MODEL FOR THE DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF PELLAGRA IN HUMAN REMAINS by Myra Gale Miller A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Social Science and Global Studies at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by: Dr. Marie Danforth, Committee Chair Dr. H. Edwin Jackson Dr. B. Katherine Smith Dr. Andrew P. Haley ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ Dr. Marie Danforth Dr. Edward Sayre Dr. Karen S. Coats Committee Chair Director of School Dean of the Graduate School May 2019 COPYRIGHT BY Myra G. Miller 2019 Published by the Graduate School ABSTRACT This study attempts to test and expand a previous study to establish a differential diagnosis of pellagra in human remains (Paine & Brenton, 2006a). Seven individuals with documented pellagra and nine individuals randomly selected for comparison from the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection were evaluated for caries, alveolar bone loss, periostitis, osteoporosis, cribra orbitalia, and porotic hyperostosis. Results indicate that the pellagra sample had lower rates of caries and alveolar bone loss, and higher rates of periostitis of the tibia and fibula in relation to the comparison sample. No osteoporosis, cribra orbitalia, or porotic hyperostosis was found in the pellagra sample. No statistically significant difference was found between the groups for any pathology except for periostitis when combined with the findings of a previous study (Paine & Brenton, 2006a). Future study should attempt to identify additional remains of those known to have pellagra. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Marie Danforth, Dr. Katie Smith, Dr. H. Edwin Jackson, and Dr. Andrew Haley for their time, dedication, support, and input in creating this thesis. I would also like to thank the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection for allowing me access to their collection and the Paleopathology Association and Southern Foodways Alliance for allowing me to present the results of this study at their meetings. iii DEDICATION I would not have been able to complete this thesis without the support and encouragement of numerous individuals throughout my life. Thank you to Dr. Laura Vick for igniting my passion for anthropology and allowing a high school student to sit in on her classes while I visited my sister at William Peace University. I would also like to thank Dr. Charles Duncan of William Peace University for shaping and encouraging my writing and Dr. Bill Duncan of East Tennessee State University, for his advice and encouragement to pursue public health, which led to choosing my graduate program. A sincere thank you also to Dr. Marie Danforth for her instruction, advice, and patience in answering all of my emails. I would also like to thank Matt Mercer and the cast of Critical Role for creating entertaining, funny, and touching stories that helped me make it through many long nights of writing. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................. ix CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II- MAIZE NUTRITION, NIXTAMALIZATION, AND PELLAGRA IN THE PAST AND PRESENT .............................................................................................. 5 Nutrition and Nixtamalization of Maize ......................................................................... 5 Current Biomedical Research on the Skeletal Effects of Niacin Deficiency.................. 7 Niacin and Dental Health ............................................................................................ 7 Niacin and Osteoporosis ............................................................................................. 8 Early Medical Literature on the Effects of Pellagra on Skeletal Tissue ......................... 9 Bioarchaeological Studies of the Effects of Pellagra on the Human Skeleton ............. 10 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER III – MATERIALS AND METHODS .......................................................... 16 The Hamann-Todd Collection ...................................................................................... 16 Pathological Analysis.................................................................................................... 19 Alveolar Bone Absorption ........................................................................................ 19 v Caries ........................................................................................................................ 20 Osteoporosis .............................................................................................................. 20 Periostitis................................................................................................................... 21 Porotic Hyperostosis and Cribra Orbitalia ................................................................ 21 Comparisons ................................................................................................................. 22 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER IV - RESULTS .............................................................................................. 24 Alveolar Bone Absorption ............................................................................................ 24 Dental Caries ................................................................................................................. 26 Periostitis....................................................................................................................... 28 Porotic Hyperostosis and Cribra Orbitalia .................................................................... 34 Osteoporosis .................................................................................................................. 38 CHAPTER V– DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................... 40 Discussion of Results .................................................................................................... 40 Periostitis................................................................................................................... 40 Alveolar Bone Absorption ........................................................................................ 41 Dental Caries ............................................................................................................. 41 Porotic Hyperostosis and Cribra Orbitalia ................................................................ 42 Osteoporosis .............................................................................................................. 42 Contributions of Findings and Recommendations for Future Study ............................ 45 vi APPENDIX A– Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection Research Request .................... 47 APPENDIX B – Radiographs of Phalanges ..................................................................... 50 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 56 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Pellagra Sample Demographics ........................................................................... 18 Table 2 Comparison Sample Demographics ..................................................................... 19 Table 3 Mean Alveolar Bone Absorption of Pellagra and Comparison Samples............. 24 Table 4 Comparison of Average Alveolar Bone Absorption between Study Samples .... 25 Table 5 Caries in Pellagra and Comparison Samples ....................................................... 27 Table 6 Osteoporosis Results ............................................................................................ 38 viii LIST OF