Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat by Gail Jarrow

Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat by Gail Jarrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was in @tavia_clark's resources for monthly #YearofYA chat Thursday 1/26 st 8PM on STEM & YA Lit and as a nonfiction book, it was mesmerizing as the medical mystery of the Pellagra disease was discovered in the late 1890s and sickened and killed many in the United States. Along with the narrative the photographs were so compelling and heartbreaking. There were many doctors and scientists who worked so hard to find the cause, research, and investigate possible cures and hopeful eradication of this mystery illness. I was in awe of Dr. Goldberger but also his wife, Mary whom he corresponded with as well as consulted his deepest thoughts about his work. And it was his wife, Mary as the only female to participate in the "contagion test." Dr. Goldberger, his wife, and other doctors, friends and colleagues infected themselves with pellagra in different ways. What the doctors, the medical community and then the world learned from this most awful scourge was the knowledge of the extreme importance of vitamins in the human diet as well as a nutritious diet. Loved this medical detective mystery by Gail Jarrow!

View all my reviews