| Abstrakt: |
Between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 20th, some countries of the world had to face a profoundly serious vitamin deficiency, pellagra. Caused by a monotropic diet of maize, the “poverty’s disease” led the most indigent peasant populations to a deep failure of vitamin B3 and tryptophan. In northern Italy and particularly in Veneto, pellagra remained endemic until just after the First World War. This study retraces the epidemiological, social and cultural mechanisms that led to the primary spread of pellagra among women during their reproductive age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
