BULLETIN FOR THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
Volume 50, 2025
Goldson-Barnaby, Andrea, “Ackee and Jamaican Vomiting Sickness, A Historical Perspective,”Bull. Hist. Chem., 2025, 50, 127-130.
https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc2025v050p127
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Abstract/Description: During the period of 1880 to 1955 there arose an illness in Jamaica with symptoms of vomiting, the etiology of which remained obscure over several decades. The illness was unique in that it was confined to Jamaica and hence was called Jamaican Vomiting Sickness (JVS). It was later named Toxic Hypoglycemic Syndrome (THS) due to the observed significant decline in blood glucose levels of persons suffering from the ailment. Symptoms accompanying JVS included lowering of blood sugar, cramps, coma, convulsions and in severe cases death—symptoms typical of food poisoning except for the hypoglycemic effect. In the 1950s scientists identified the cause of the illness as consumption of immature ackee fruit (Blighia sapida). Two toxic components were eventually isolated from the seeds of the ackee, named hypoglycin A and hypoglycin B due to their pronounced hypoglycemic activity.