April 2013 Family Meals Focus #80 Regional artists, pellagra, and traditional wisdom I just turned 71. To celebrate, I am letting my Research mural shows people suffering from mind wander among stuff I like to think about and rickets (vitamin D deficiency) and pellagra (niacin writing this self-indulgent issue of Family Meals deficiency). Focus. If you recall from your nutrition classes, pellagra On the day itself, I finally made it to the is characterized by the four-Ds: dermatitis, University of Wisconsin Biochemistry building to diarrhea, dementia, and in some cases death. see the John Steuart Curry 1942 mural, the Social Pellagra seemingly emerged out of nowhere in the Benefits of Biochemical Research. Curry, a American south in the early 20th century among Kansan, was artist in residence here in Madison in people whose diet was made up primarily of meat, 1936 and did a mural in the law school, The cornmeal and molasses. At first, it was viewed as Freeing of the Slaves. I have been entertained by being caused by toxic cornmeal, which in a way, it Curry’s controversial ways, and in my travels was. But the real problem was niacin deficiency, enjoyed visiting the Kansas statehouse to see which was addressed by enriching cornmeal with Tragic Prelude, the huge mural on the main floor niacin starting in the 1940s. that depicts John Brown as the avenging prophet of Bleeding Kansas. This was apparently an The pellagra epidemic essentially grew out of loss historical chapter that Kansans in the 30s would of traditional wisdom. World-wide, people had just as soon have forgotten. Curry’s depiction of survived and thrived on cornmeal-based diets Kansas’s tragic past put stop to his mural-painting without developing pellagra. The reason? project in the capital building. Cornmeal had traditionally been prepared by treating it with lime, or alkali, which makes the I do enjoy the Regional Artists: John Steuart niacin nutritionally available and prevents Curry, Grant Wood, and Thomas Hart Benton. pellagra. That tradition persists. When I asked They were all muralists, and they all worked in the Navaho elders to talk about the old ways with food 20s and 30s. That would be Regional with a and with feeding their families, they talked about capital “R.” Apparently the term was reserved for preparing blue cornmeal mush with juniper ash. those three and the region was Iowa, Missouri, and To them, it didn’t taste good without it. The Kansas. Their idealized paintings of rural juniper ash, of course, is lye, which activates the landscapes and people were popular during the niacin and protects against pellagra. How had they depression. They were all supported in part and learned to do that? Had someone back in the far from time-to-time by Works Progress reaches of time noticed that when ashes got in the Administration grants, which helped artists and a corn meal mush, people didn’t develop skin lot of other people during the depression. rashes? Or did those fastidious cooks who kept the ashes out of the mush simply not survive? We can Even at my most self-indulgent, I still seem to get only wonder. around to thinking about food and nutrition, eating and feeding. The two come together when I So why had people stopped using lye treatment? It consider trusting one’s natural wisdom and seemed to happen suddenly, because pellagra respecting traditional ways with food. But first, a appeared abruptly and took on epidemic short detour: There is a plaque outside the old UW proportions. I don’t know the answer to that Madison biochemistry building reminding us that mystery, but maybe you do. Drop me a line on Frank Strong and Conrad Elvehjem identified Facebook, and while you are at it, tell me more niacin, which cured pellagra. We UW students of stories about how traditional people learned to nutrition and biochemistry are proud of that patch together nutritionally adequate diets to keep vitamin legacy. E.V. McCollum and M. Davis themselves healthy and strong. Or tell me about identified Vitamin A, McCollum discovered your favorite regional (capital R or not) artist. I thiamin, and Harry Steenbock developed milk will enjoy that, too. Happy birthday, me. irradiation for vitamin D. Curry’s Biochemical .