Metabolic Treatment for Mental Diseases

I have largely given up on the term "orthomolecular" because everybody associates this with megavitamins. My ideas involve amino acids, fiber, polyphenols, and other nutritional substances. I get a lot of flack for advocating for orthomolecular treatment. The bibliography contains references which have a great deal of information on these matters.

Let food be thy medicine.- Hippocrates

Bipolar Disorder

"So compelling is the evidence for a nutritional approach to bipolar disorder that it's a wonder why more physicians and psychiatrists aren't flocking to learn more. But there's strong official resistance to the idea that simple nutrients can help." What Doctors Don't Tell You (Volume 14, Issue 7) 2003

This magazine, "What Doctors Don't Tell You", appears to be coming out of Canada. The magazine has published a lot of material on drug side effects and misconduct by drug companies. The magazine wrote "... excess phenylalanine (in the form of aspartame) can worsen depression (Biol Psychiatry, 1993; 34: 13-7) ..." Therefore it clearly does not worship all supplements. I may write more about this magazine, or journal, in the future if there is interest. My study of this magazine indicates that the authors are highly knowledgeable.

St. John's Wort

My experience is that this treatment for depression and bipolar disorder does not work. It is a safe treatment, but there is no logical rationale. The same situation exists with the fish oil treatment. Fish oil is a precursor for prostaglandins. However, the prostate gland has nothing to do with mental illness.

Amino Acids

My own theory for mental diseases is that amino acids are flooding the cells. Therefore I have been interested in the amino acid composition of foods. For example, alanine is high in the following foods:

Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, corn, dairy products, eggs, fish, gelatin, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, seafood, seeds, soy, whey, whole grains.

The website orthomolecular.org reports alanine as being a source of energy for the brain and central nervous system. This means that alanine can be burned for fuel by the brain.The same website reports that it helps with glucose metabolism. This means that it can convert into pyruvate, an intermediate in glucose metabolism.

My own theory is that it can do harm if in excess. It can cause a backup in glucose metabolism in that situation.

Arginine is in the following foods:

Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, carob, caseinate, chocolate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, oatmeal, popcorn, raisins, seafood, seeds, sesame seeds, soy, sunflower seeds, whey, whole grains.

According to the website orthomolecular.org, arginine crosses the blood-brain barrier.

My own theory is that a diet very low in amino acids may help people with mental diseases.

Conclusions

More research needs to be done, but a lot of very good research has already been done. "Therapeutic nutrition based on biochemical individuality" is the motto of the orthomolecular.org website, which I highly recommend.

Bibliography

1. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1079416/schizophrenia_an_error_in_the_bloodbrain.html

2. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1072004/abnormal_energy_metabolism_in_bipolar.html

3. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1060575/a_possible_genetic_locus_for_schizophrenia.html

4. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1057997/advances_in_world_psychiatry.html

5. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1044372/a_possible_major_breakthrough_in_mental.html

6. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1044925/protein_amino_acids_and_brain_allergies.html

7. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1030724/abnormal_energy_metabolism_in_mental.html