10. Beriberi: Beriberi is a disease whose symptoms
include weight loss, body weakness
and pain, brain damage, irregular heart
rate, heart failure, and death if left
untreated. It was endemic in Asia for a
long time. Strangely, Beriberi occurred almost exclusively amongst the richer
members of society, and was unknown
in the poor. Although recognized to be
a nutritional deficiency, doctors were
baffled as to why wealthy people with
plentiful and clean food would fall victim to beriberi whereas the poor
with limited food did not. As it turned
out, beriberi is a deficiency of vitamin
B1 (thiamine) which is found in cereal
grain husks. The rich had been washing
their rice so well that they removed the husk with its vitamin B1, whereas the
poor did not wash their food as well
and consumed enough vitamin B1.
White bread can also potentially cause
beriberi, so today developed countries
add extra vitamin B1 to it. Beriberi is now found mostly in alcoholics whose
bodies become poor at absorbing
vitamin B1.

9. Pellagra: After the discovery and exploration of
the Americas, corn was grown by
settlers and all around the world. The
natives who had originally grown it
would treat it with lime, but the taste
was unpleasant to the Europeans and they omitted this part of the
preparation. As corn was increasingly
farmed, the disease pellagra began to
spread. Symptoms included diarrhea,
dermatitis, dementia, and finally death.
Many people believed that corn was in some way toxic, but could not explain
the lack of pellagra among native New
Worlders. After thousands of deaths, it
was discovered that corn, although
high in carbohydrates, lacked vitamin
B3 (niacin). Farmers would sometimes eat little other than corn and succumb
to the deficiency. The Native Americans
had actually been using lime as a way
of adding vitamin B3. Today it is well
known that by eating a variety of foods
vitamin B3 is freely obtained and pellagra is easily treated.

8. Biotin Deficiency: Biotin deficiency is caused by a lack of
vitamin B7 (biotin). It causes rashes,
hair loss, anaemia, and mental
conditions including hallucinations,
drowsiness, and depression. Vitamin B7
itself is found in meat, liver, milk, peanuts, and some vegetables. Its
deficiency is quite rare; however, there
was a brief spike in the number of cases
when it became popular for
bodybuilders to consume raw eggs. One
of the proteins found in raw egg white binds vitamin B7 and makes it difficult
for the body to use, leading to a
deficiency. Cooking egg whites makes
this protein inactive. Mild biotin
deficiency is also found is about half of
all pregnant women due to a higher use of vitamin B7 in their bodies, and
supplements are recommended for such
women by the World Health
Organisation.

7. Scurvy: Scurvy was first noted among people
who spent a long time at sea. Boats
would only carry non-perishable foods
such as salted meats and dried grain, so
sailors ate few if any fruits or
vegetables. Scurvy causes lethargy, skin spots, bleeding gums, loss of teeth,
fever, and death. Ancient sea-faring
civilizations would cure it with various
herbs. In more recent times, these
ancient cures were not used
consistently and their value was not realized. In the 18th century horse meat
and citrus fruits were found to cure
scurvy, and British sailors consumed
limes to the extent that they were
nicknamed ‘limeys’. It is now known
that these foods contain vitamin C, and in modern times scurvy is rarely fatal as
it once consistently was. Today, there
are groups who advocate vitamin C
megadoses of hundreds of times the
recommended daily requirement;
although any positive effects have not been firmly demonstrated and harmful
overdoses can occur.

6. Rickets: Rickets causes muscles and bones to
become soft, which can cause
permanent deformities in children. It is
most common in children and infants
who have a poor diet or who are
housebound, but is nowadays relatively rare in developed countries. Breast-fed
babies are at higher risk if they or their
mothers do not take in enough
sunlight, and baby formula is now
designed to prevent this. Rickets is
caused by a lack of vitamin D or of calcium. Vitamin D is required for
calcium to be properly absorbed into
bones to strengthen them. Adults rarely
develop rickets because their bones are
not growing and do not need much
calcium. Vitamin D itself is obtained from many foods but the body can only
use it if it has been converted into its
active form via sunlight. In recent years
there has been a slight increase in
children with rickets possibly due to too
many of them staying indoors.

5. Ariboflavinosis: This condition is present mostly in
people who suffer from malnutrition
and in alcoholics. It causes distinctive
bright pink tongues, although other
symptoms are cracked lips, throat
swelling, bloodshot eyes, and low red blood cell count. Ultimately it can cause
comas and death. It is caused by a lack
of vitamin B2 (riboflavin), but easily
treated by eating foods rich in vitamin
B2, including meat, eggs, milk,
mushrooms, and leafy green vegetables. Vitamin B2 is also used as
artificial orange color in foods. It is
absorbed through the liver, so
alcoholics might eat enough of it but be
unable to use it. True deficiencies are
rare, but about 10% of people in developed countries live in a state of
slight deficiency, thought to be from a
diet of highly processed foods. Constant
slight deficiencies can increase the risk
of mild health problems.

4. Vitamin K deficiency: This deficiency affects nearly half of all
newborn infants worldwide. In severe
cases it causes uncontrolled bleeding
and underdeveloped faces and bones.
Many hospitals give newborns vitamin
K injections to avoid the more severe symptoms. Unfortunately babies born
outside hospitals are statistically at a
much higher risk of serious deficiencies.
Vitamin K is found chiefly in leafy green
vegetables, although human gut
bacteria help produce it in humans. Newborns have not yet developed gut
bacteria which is why they are so prone
to deficiencies. Other than newborns,
vitamin K deficiency is found in
alcoholics, bulimics, strict dieters, and
people with various severe diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Adults who
bruise or bleed easily sometimes have
vitamin K deficiency which itself may
be indicative of one of these more
serious disorders.

3. Hypocobalaminemia: This mouthful of a disease was first
noticed as a symptom of an
autoimmune disease. It causes gradual
deterioration of the spinal cord and
very gradual brain deterioration,
resulting in sensory or motor deficiencies. Mental disorders from the
gradual brain damage begin as fatigue,
irritability, depression, or bad memory.
As the disease progresses over several
years, psychosis and mania can appear.
This damage is irreversible and is caused by a deficiency in vitamin B12.
Fortunately, this vitamin is easily found
in meat, dairy, and eggs. Vitamin B12 is
stored in the liver and can last for years
before deficiency sets in.
Hypocobalaminemia is most common in developing countries amongst people
who eat few animal products. The most
at-risk groups in developed countries
are vegans, as no plant produces
enough B12 for a human diet. Children
need much more B12 than adults because they are growing, so infants
who are only breast-fed can become
deficient and suffer permanent brain
damage if their mother is only slightly
deficient. Supplements are
recommended for people of all diet types as an easy way to avoid the
devastation of this disease.

2. Paraesthesia: Vitamin B5 is found in nearly every
food, and deficiencies are found in
people who have been starving,
volunteers of particular medical studies,
and people on diets restricted to a very
small number of foods. A deficiency in vitamin B5 causes chronic paraesthesia.
Paraesthesia is most familiar to us as
the numbing sensation we feel as ‘pins
and needles’ or a limb ‘falling asleep’.
This kind of paraesthesia is perfectly
normal; however, in vitamin B5 deficiencies it occurs constantly.
Malnourished prisoners of war
sometimes reported prickling and
burning sensations in their hands and
feet which is now thought to have
been paraesthesia. As this is nearly unseen today, most vitamin
supplements do not include B5.

1. Night Blindness: The Ancient Egyptians and Greeks
wrote about night blindness, or
‘nyctalopia’. This affliction makes it
impossible to see in dim light, and
sufferers become completely blind
when night falls. The Egyptians found that they could cure sufferers by
feeding them liver, which contains high
levels of vitamin A, the deficiency of
which causes night blindness. Vitamin A
deficiency still affects one third of all
children on Earth under the age of five, resulting in over half a million deaths
each year. Most high dose vitamins
obtain their vitamin A from liver, which
is dangerous at high levels and can
cause various health complications. In
the past, starving Antarctic explorers would eat their dogs for food but
became sick when they ate too much
liver. Vitamin A found in carrots is a
slightly different molecule to that found
in liver and is not toxic in high doses,
although it can cause skin to turn yellow. During the Second World War,
the Allies announced that they ate
carrots to see well, although carrots
only help maintain normal vision and
do not improve it beyond this. Actually
they were lying to hide their development of radar.

good read. vital knowledge