pellagra

Etymology

From Lombard pellagra, probably from Latin pellis (“skin”) + Lombard -agra (“sour”).

noun

1. (pathology) A disease characterised by skin lesions and mental confusion, primarily caused by a niacin deficiency.
   In 1755 the French physician Gaspar Casal (1680–1759) published an account of pellagra, then a new disease in Spain. 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 531
   Mixing the alkali into the recipe in the right way chemically releases the otherwise unavailable niacin in the corn, which stops pellagra in its tracks, and allowed corn-based agricultural populations to grow and spread. 2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 7, in The Secret of Our Success[…], Princeton: Princeton University Press