Amino Acid Research

One of my few criticisms of Linus Pauling was that he put too much emphasis on vitamins and not enough on amino acids. Amino acids are tremendously important in medicine. Ref. 1 details inborn errors of metabolism, and many of these diseases are errors in amino acid metabolism. This article is very useful because it is available free full text at the database Pubmed Central.

Ornithine

This is not an essential amino acid. The body can make it from other amino acids. Ref. 2 details psychiatric behavior as a result of an error in ornithine metabolism. Ref. 3 reports recurrent episodes of bizarre behavior in a boy with a different error in ornithine metabolism.

"Recurrent episodes of bizarre behavior were the only clinical symptoms that finally led to the diagnosis of ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency in an 8-year-old boy."

Spada M, Guardamagna O, Rabier D, van der Meer SB, Parvy P, Bardet J, Ponzone A, Saudubray JM.

Department of Pediatrics, Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades, Paris, France.

The quote is from Ref. 3. Ref. 4 reported similar results from the same amino acid disease.

Other Amino Acids

PKU is probably the most infamous inborn error of amino acid metabolism because it has been known for a long time. It was discovered by Folling of Norway. Excessive phenylalanine causes psychiatric symptoms and sometimes, if not properly treated early, mental retardation. Periventricular brain pathology is seen. This is an area where pathology has also been seen in schizophrenia. This could mean that there are similarities in biochemistry between PKU and schizophrenia.

There are probably many errors of amino acid metabolism that have not yet been discovered. These may have similar symptoms to the ones already known.

"During the last decade it has become increasingly clear that severe hypoglycemia may be caused by specific enzymatic defects of amino acid and fatty acid metabolism." (5)

This article from Norway also commented as follows:

"Treatment with pharmacological doses of vitamins may be attempted, depending upon the established or suspected diagnoses." Sovik (5)

Psychiatry

Mental diseases, including Huntington's chorea, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, etc. may all be errors in amino acid metabolism. If this is true, and I believe that it is true, then metabolic treatment is suggested. The drugs have been largely trial & error with far too many errors.

Bipolar Disorder

Ref. 7 reported differences in glutamine and glutamate between patients and controls. Unfortunately these patients were under different drug treatments, so it is not clear whether the differences were due to the disease or due to the drugs, which included lithium. This work should be redone with patients not on drugs.

Drugs Used in Psychiatry

Ref. 8 gives an example of the terrible problems that have been caused by psychiatric drugs.

Supplement Treatment

Ref. 9 describes supplement treatment, which included 3 amino acids.

"The multinutrient supplement in this case study is EMPowerplus (EMP+), a 36-ingredient supplement containing 16 minerals, 14 vitamins, 3 amino acids, and 3 antioxidants. It was used to treat a 12-year-old boy initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder not otherwise specified (BP-NOS) at age 6, and whose diagnosis evolved by age 10 to bipolar I (BP-I), mixed, with psychotic features." (9)

Ref. 9 claimed success with this supplement.

"This report adds to accumulating preliminary evidence that further basic science and clinical studies of multinutrient supplements are warranted." (9)

"EMP+ resulted in outcome superior to conventional treatment." (9)

This is the type of thing that I mean by metabolic treatment. Some would call this "orthomolecular" treatment, but that name has often been associated with megavitamins.

Schizophrenia

There is a very popular glutamate theory for schizophrenia (10).

Conclusions

There is a Dr. Michael Lesser who favors a "brain chemistry diet" for mental health problems. More information on him is at www.orthomolecular.org.

My own theories are presented in Refs. 11-13. Like Lesser, I feel that diet can alter brain chemistry. However, I feel that amino acids are flooding the brain cells in the various forms of mental disease. I have published over 300 articles at Associated Content. I'm not going to freference them all. If the reader is interested in these other articles, he can go to Associated Content and search for Craig Olson. Also I have published photo albums at Gather. Some of these albums deal with nutrition and some are on the brain.

The government could save massive amounts of money if they listened to me. The vegan diet is cheaper than the omnivorous diet, and it is healthier. The vegan diet also fights global warming. Plants consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Animal feces can produce methane, which is a deadly gas that is an even worse heat sink than carbon dioxide. Factory farms, including pig farms, produce both methane and carbon dioxide.

The vegan diet fights against many chronic diseases. Drugs have been a mixed bag. Some drugs do more harm than good.

References

1. An insight into the biochemistry of inborn errors of metabolism for a clinical neurologist. Rita Christopher and Bindu P. Sankaran. Ann Indian Acad Neurol. 2008 Apr-Jun; 11(2): 68-81.

2. Dimango EP, Lowe JE, Snodgrass PJ, Jones JD. Ornithine carbamylase deficiency: A cause of bizarre behaviour in a man. N Engl J Med. 1986;315:744-7.

3. J Pediatr. 1994 Aug;125(2):249-51. Recurrent episodes of bizarre behavior in a boy with ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency: diagnostic failure of protein loading and allopurinol challenge tests. Spada M, Guardamagna O, Rabier D, van der Meer SB, Parvy P, Bardet J, Ponzone A, Saudubray JM.

4. Lancet. 1995 Apr 29;345(8957):1113. Psychiatric manifestations in girl with ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. Largillière C.

5. Sovik O. Inborn errors of amino acid and fatty acid metabolism with hypoglycemia as a major clinical manifestation. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1989;78:161-70.

6. Sedes F, Baumann N, Turpin JC, et al. Psychiatric manifestations revealing inborn errors of metabolism in adolescents and adults. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2007;30:631-641.

7. Metabolic Profiling of Human Blood Serum from Treated Patients with Bipolar Disorder Employing (1)H NMR Spectroscopy and Chemometrics. Sussulini A, Prando A, Maretto DA, Poppi RJ, Tasic L, Banzato CE, Arruda MA. Anal Chem. 2009 Oct 28.

8. Chorea associated with gabapentin use in an elderly man. Attupurath R, Aziz R, Wollman D, Muralee S, Tampi RR. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2009 Aug;7(4):220-4.

9. Multinutrient supplement as treatment: literature review and case report of a 12-year-old boy with bipolar disorder. Frazier EA, Fristad MA, Arnold LE. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2009 Aug;19(4):453-60.

10. Imaging the glutamate system in humans: relevance to drug discovery for schizophrenia. Stone JM. Curr Pharm Des. 2009;15(22):2594-602. Review.

11. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2408348/obsessivecompulsive_disorder_symptoms.html

12. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2408396/paranoia_theory_and_treatments.html

13. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2390658/insomnia_its_causes_and_treatments.html