Death Of Mozart

Lack of Sun may have led to Mozart's death

Mozart suffered numerous illnesses including smallpox, typhoid fever, tonsillitis and upper respiratory tract infections. What exactly it was that killed him in December 1791 at age 35, is still a matter of debate, with theories ranging from poisoning to renal disease.

Now, two US researchers suggest that in his high-latitude home in Austria, Mozart was probably running low on the sunshine vitamin for half the year. That deficiency may have put the musician at risk for many of the illnesses he suffered from.

If only Mozart had known about vitamin D and had access to supplements, he could have doubled his lifetime's output of work, says William Grant, a retired NASA atmospheric physicist who has been following vitamin D research with great interest for the past decade. And, he argues, the same goes for several other famous musicians who died at young ages.

While some researchers remain sceptical, Grant thinks Mozart's story holds a cautionary tale for modern musicians, who might want to consider getting outside for a practice session or two.

"Almost every disease has a vitamin D connection these days," says Grant, who is not a doctor, but is affiliated with the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center , a pro-vitamin D research and education association.

"I think modern-day musicians are unaware of the fact that by staying indoors, they are not getting the adequate amount of vitamin D that they need."

Mozart's death has long been shrouded in mystery. The musician was buried three days after he died, says William Dawson, a retired orthopaedic surgeon, and past president of the Performing Arts Medicine Association. And an autopsy was never performed on his body.

Testimonies and reports about the composer's death were not reviewed until 30 years later. Even then, the documents were full of conflicting details.

To complicate the situation even more, medical knowledge at the time was far behind what doctors know today. And since Mozart's time, the definitions of many medical terms have changed.

"They didn't know about vitamins," says Dawson. "They didn't know about bacteria. They didn't know about blood pressure. Mozart's physicians were as high quality as he could get. They just didn't have the knowledge or technology to treat him.

Lack of sunshine may have led to Mozart's untimely death | Hamara ...

It is known that vitamin D may reduce the risk of many acute respiratory infectious diseases including viral infections such as influenza and bacterial infections such as pneumonia.

Mozart died at the age of 35, after suffering from many infectious illnesses including catarrh, fever, sore throat and bad colds from 1762 to 1791.

Most of these illnesses occurred between mid-October and May.

He lived in Austria, which was darker than most of Europe, and would work through the night and sleep during the day. This prevented his body from producing sufficient levels of vitamin D.

According to the study, it is impossible to make vitamin D from solar ultraviolet-B irradiance for about six months of the year at the latitude of Salzburg and Vienna, 48s N.

It tries to link Mozart’s death on December 5, 1791 with the six months vitamin D winter at that latitude.

The study has concluded that vitamin D has the potential to fight such blood-born bacterial infections.

It further states that vitamin D deficiency is very likely an important issue for modern musicians as well.

This is because musicians have to spend many hours indoors practicing and performing and are prone to low sunlight exposure, which leads to reduced vitamin D synthesis in the skin.

Modern researches have suggested that vitamin D cuts the risk of many types of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, neurological and neuromuscular diseases.

It also prevents bone diseases including rickets and osteoporosis.

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