Between 1900 and 1940 pellagra was one of the most serious pandemics in the Southern United States and in Mediterranean countries where corn was the staple food. The US Public Health Service assigned the problem to Dr. Joseph Goldberger, one of its officers. He soon deduced that pellagra was a deficiency disease and showed how it could be prevented and cured, although vitamin B3 had not yet been identified.

Goldberger's research is classical and he is honoured as one of the foremost nutritional epidemiologists. He had behind him the US Public Health Service and the resources of the US government. Still he was ignored because the favourite medical theory claimed pellagra was caused by an infection. The profession had a lot of experience dealing with infections and very little in dealing with nutritional deficiencies.

Dr. Goldberger saved millions of people from the ravages of that dreadful disease and paved the way for the eradication of pellagra by the enrichment of flour with small amounts of niacinamide starting about 1941 in the United States. The problems faced by the US army in finding enough recruits was a factor in this decision. It became mandatory to add niacinamide, thiamin and riboflavin. A few pennies worth of vitamins saved billions of dollars in healthcare as well as the lives and health of the patients who would have gotten pellagra but for Goldberger's work.

I think the situation with HIV/AIDS is similar but with major differences. HIV/AIDS is much more serious, is much more prevalent and is occurring or will be occurring everywhere except in some areas where the soils are very rich in selenium such as in Senegal. Professor Harold D. Foster does not have the resources of any government to support him in his work. He is alone, receives no support but labours on, not only in trying to persuade the scientific world of the real cause of HIV/AIDS, but in how to deal with it.

I treated three patients with AIDS about 15 years ago and they all recovered with the use of the nutrients I normally use, including selenium. The preliminary therapeutic trials and pilot trials reported by Foster support his hypothesis that this disease is caused by a deficiency of the components of glutathione peroxidase, of which selenium is a very important one. In Africa the diet is so poor that amino acid deficiency is common. In other
countries like North America this deficiency is not as marked but selenium deficiency is a
significant problem.

There will be a major catastrophe if Foster's hypothesis is submerged by the antiretroviral idea and is not examined as quickly and fully as possible.

Dr. Abram Hoffer is a world-famous pioneer in the treatment of illness with nutritional medicine.

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