The vitamin A story [[electronic resource] ] : lifting the shadow of death / / Richard D. Semba

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910353343103321
• Autore: Semba Richard D
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Basel ; ; New York, : Karger, c2012
• ISBN: 3-318-02189-X
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (224 p.)
• Collana: World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics ; ; v.104; World review of nutrition and dietetics, , 0084-2230 ; ; v. 104
• Disciplina: 613.2/86
• Soggetti: Vitamin A deficiency - History; Vitamin A - History; History, 19th Century; Night Blindness - history; Vitamin A - therapeutic use
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Contents -- Dedication -- Preface -- Glossary -- Chapter 1: Vitamin A Deficiency in Nineteenth Century Naval Medicine -- Night Blindness at Sea -- Night Blindness Linked to Other Diseases of Malnutrition -- Diagnosis and the Search for a Cause -- Something Missing from the Food -- Chapter 2: Paris in the Time of Françoise Magendie -- Different but Hardly Better -- Bad Gets Worse -- First Steps in the Science of Public Health -- D'Arcet's Gelatin for the Needy and the Dietary Nitrogen Studies of Magendie -- Chapter 3: Deprivation Provides a Laboratory -- A Defect in Alimentation -- Gains in Nutrition, Then a Disastrous Reversal -- Chapter 4: Free but Not Equal -- Race and Rank: Differences in Diet and Susceptibility -- Uneven Nutrition outside the Union Army -- Chapter 5: The Long, Rocky Road to Understanding Vitamins -- Moving Beyond Old Assumptions and Around New Certainties -- Connecting the "Accessory Factors" and the Vitamin Deficiency Diseases -- Finding an Elusive Panacea in Milk -- Obstructions, Chicanery, and Perseverance -- Lafayette Mendel's Far-Flung Progeny and His Legacy -- Chapter 6: Milk, Butter, and Early Steps in Human Trials -- The High Health Cost of a Booming Dairy ; Industry -- Milk Studies in Britain: Experiments in Experimentation -- Interference from Within and Without -- Lessons Learned -- Chapter 7: Rise of the "Anti-Infective Vitamin" -- Abating Childbed Fever: A Path with Forks and Obstacles -- A Gentle Warrior Confronts a Children's Predator -- A Vitamin's Short Stay at the Limelight -- Chapter 8: Vitamin A Deficiency in Europe's Former Colonies -- Dutch Initiative versus the Free Market -- Health in the Developing World Becomes a Multinational Concern -- Chapter 9: Saving the Children: Rescue Missions against Strong Undertow -- Ideals for a New Era -- The Best Laid Plans... -- Getting It Right and on the International Agenda -- External Obstructions -- Much Accomplished, More to Do -- More Vegetables and Fruit: Nice Idea, but... -- Appendix: Night Blindness Among Black Troops and White Troops in the US Civil War -- Bibliography -- Manuscript Sources -- Published Sources -- Subject Index -- Cover.
• Sommario/riassunto: This book shows how vitamin A deficiency before the vitamin was known to scientists affected millions of people throughout history. It is a story of sailors and soldiers, penniless mothers, orphaned infants, and young children left susceptible to blindness and fatal infections. We also glimpse the fortunate ones who, with ample vitamin A-rich food, escaped this elusive stalker. Why were people going blind and dying? To unravel this puzzle, scientists around the world competed over the course of a century. Their persistent efforts led to the identification of vitamin A and its essential role in health. As a primary focus of today's international public health efforts, vitamin A has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. But, we discover, they could save many more were it not for obstacles erected by political and ideological zealots who lack a historical perspective of the problem.