Opaque-2 maize in the prevention and treatment of pellagra

Abstract

In order to determine the usefulness of opaque-2 maize in the prevention of pellagra, people from the third and fifth brigades of a commune in a maize-eating district of Northwest China received opaque-2 maize in their diet and served as the experimental subjects. People from the neighboring sixth brigade ate conventional maize and served as the control subjects. After three months there were no cases of pellagra in the experimental groups, but there were three cases in the control group; the incidence was 1.8%. Prior to the study, urinary excretion values of N-methylniacinamide (N-MN) of the subjects were measured. There were no significant differences among the three brigades (P>0.05). By the conclusion of the study the differences in urinary excretion of N-MN between the experimental and control groups were highly significant: 0.21±0.02 and 0.21±0.02 mg/2 h for the experimental groups and 0.12±0.01 mg/2 h for the control group. Opaque-2 maize also was used in a study of the treatment of pellagra. Persons with pellagra were divided into three groups: Group 1 received opaque-2 maize, Group 2 received conventional maize plus niacinamide (10 mg per day), and Group 3 received conventional maize. Before treatment, the average values of the urinary excretion of N-MN of each group were not significantly different. After one month of the treatment, a loading dose of 50 mg niacinamide was administered orally. Four-hour urines were collected and analyzed for N-MN. The differences between Group 1 and Group 3 or Group 2 and Group 3 were significant. Although the results showed that opaque-2 maize could be used in the prevention and treatment of pellagra, meat, milk, and milk products should be recommended to people in all of the areas where pellagra is endemic. The planting of opaque-2 maize, however, should provide an effective means to supply utilizable niacin and is a simple, economical way to prevent pellagra for the present.