Gopalan, C (1969) Possible role for dietary leucine in the pathogenesis of pellagra. The Lancet, 293 (7587). pp. 197-199.
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Abstract
The traditional view of the pathogenesis of pellagra is that it is a nutritional deficiency disease caused by the consumption of maize, a staple which is deficient in tryptophan and in which nicotinic acid is present in " bound " form. But cases of pellagra seen in populations whose staple is " jowar " (a millet with tryptophan content close to that of rice) throws doubt on this hypothesis. Jowar has an abnormally high leucine content, as does maize. L-leucine was found to interfere with tryptophan and nicotinic-acid metabolism, and leucine supplements induced " black tongue " (the canine equivalent of pellagra) in dogs. Leucine seems to act by distorting the nicotinamide-nucleotide pattern of red blood-cells, though total nucleotide levels are not affected. Supplements of this aminoacid seem to exacerbate the mental symptoms associated with pellagra. Pellagra may, therefore, be thought of as a human nutritional deficiency disease mediated by leucine imbalance. The disease could be brought under control by identification and selective propagation of strains of jowar which are low in leucine.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Author Affiliation: | From The Nutrition Research Laboratories, Indian Council Of Medical Research, Tarnaka, Hyderabad, India |
| Subjects: | Postharvest Management > Food Technology |
| Divisions: | Maize |
| Depositing User: | Library ICRISAT-InfoSAT |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Apr 2012 13:00 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Apr 2012 13:00 |
| Official URL: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(69)91206-9 |
| URI: | http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/4330 |
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