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G. A. Wheeler coauthored a 1915 dietary experiment with Joseph Goldberger investigating the cause of pellagra. The study followed prisoners in Mississippi after placing them on a restricted diet dominated by cereal foods. Eleven remained in the experiment to its end; the authors reported symptoms sufficient for a diagnosis of pellagra in at least six. Other prisoners under observation did not develop comparable evidence of the disease.^[ref]

The comparison mattered because it changed food intake while observing people in the same broad setting. The findings supported a dietary explanation without identifying the particular missing nutrient. They should not be read as a population-wide disease probability: a small, selected group subjected to a particular intervention answers a narrower question. The report also records that participation followed an offer of a pardon, which is essential context for interpreting its use of the word “volunteer”.^[ref]

Joseph Goldberger investigated pellagra as a disease of inadequate nutrition when an infectious explanation was widely accepted. His work helped shift the question from which organism transmitted the disease to what was missing from the diet. He established a dietary explanation without isolating the specific protective nutrient; vitamin B3 was identified as the missing component later. ^[ref]

With G. A. Wheeler, Goldberger reported a 1915 experiment in which a restricted diet produced pellagra in at least six of eleven prisoners who completed the study. Their report compared the experimental group with other prisoners, considered differences in work and hygiene, and concluded that the restricted diet caused the disease.^[ref]

The scientific lesson is to separate association, intervention and identification of a mechanism. Observing that a disease clusters among people eating similar foods suggests a hypothesis. Changing the diet tests that hypothesis more directly. Identifying the missing vitamin is a further chemical step, requiring evidence beyond the original feeding comparison.

Pellagra is a disease caused by severe vitamin B3 deficiency. Its manifestations can include sun-sensitive dermatitis, diarrhea and neurological changes, including dementia. These familiar “three Ds” summarize possible effects; they are not a requirement that every affected person show all three. Vitamin B3 supplies precursors of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, so adequate dietary energy alone does not guarantee adequate support for metabolism.^[ref]

In 1915, Joseph Goldberger and G. A. Wheeler tested a restricted, cereal-heavy diet at a Mississippi prison farm. At least six of eleven remaining volunteers developed signs judged to be pellagra within five months; none were observed among the comparison prisoners. The reported menu supplied about 2,952 calories per man per day, making the contrast between calories and dietary composition especially revealing. Prisoners were offered pardons for participation; allocation was not described as randomized.^[ref]

The experiment supported a dietary cause under its conditions. It did not identify the missing molecule chemically: demonstrating that a restricted diet produces a disease and identifying the specific vitamin are different experimental achievements.