Orthomolecular Medicine Vs The Terrible Diseases

"Deficiency of vitmain A is not only a major nutritional problem in many developing coutries, but also in countries such as the United States and Canada. It has been well documented that (low vitamin A) results in an enhanced susceptibility of the respiratory system, bladder, and the colon to chemical carcinogenesis." Zahid Siddick, Ph. D. National Cancer Research, Surrey, England

Introduction

One of the many books that I have been reading is "Vitamins, Herbs, Minerals, & Supplements: The Complete Guide" by H. Winter Griffith, M.D. This book was published in 1998. I have also been reading a more recent book called "Healthy Aging" by Dr. Andrew Weil, who sometimes calles himself "Debunker".

Both books are similar in that both advocate good nutrition. Although Weil is more famous, I like Griffith's book because it contains the composition of foods. Weil will tell you to eat mushrooms to strengthen your immune system. What I am working on involves amino acids. Weil also has an anti-inflammatory diet for arthritis. He favors fish oil.

Weil has his own website, which I may discuss in the future.

Amino Acids

A lot of press has been given to vitamins lately because of studies showing that certain vitamins, including D, have been found to fight cancer. Pauling showed that C fights cancer in his study. However, I have a theory linking amino acids to mental disease. I am very much interested in cancer because my Father died from it. I am also very much interested in cardiovascular disease because my Mother died from an atherosclerotic stroke. What I have found, to my amazement, is that the same diet which may help mental illness appears also to fight both cancer and cardiovascular disease!

This may not be a coincidence. When man evolved from earlier primates, he had a much different diet than he does now. Early man, like current primates, probably did not cook his food. Early man did not eat flour. Early man did not eat cake. Early man did not eat sugar. Early man did not have processed foods. We have evolved on a diet high in fiber. Early man ate fruits & vegetables. He probably ate some meat and fish, but he did not eat cheese. He did not eat dairy products except for his Mother's milk when he was a baby.

Today we eat a lot of meat and fish, at least in the US. They don't eat this in India.

Phenylalanine

One of the amino acids that I became interested in was phenylalanine. I read a 1968 paper in the journal Science by Linus Pauling. In this paper he described PKU, a terrible disease caused by an inborn error of metabolism. This error causes an accumulation of the amino acids phenylalanine. Folling discovered this. He was a Norwegian doctor and scientist.

I looked up this disease in science books and on the Internet. I used the Pubmed website, formerly called "Medline". It is the electronic equivalent of the old Index Medicus. I never cared for the Index Medicus because I felt that it blackballed many nutritional theories. However, the data on PKU adds great strength to nutritional advocates such as the late, great, Linus Pauling.

PKU

In PKU the patient is put on a diet very low in phenylalanine. Otherwise retardation and mental illness set in very badly. It seems that high blood levels of phenylalanine are disastrous to the brain. Phenylalanine, abbreviated as PHE, is in almonds, avocados, bananas, cheese, cottage cheese, lima beans, milk, peanuts, pickled herring, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, meat, fish, and aspartame (Equal). These foods are high in protein.

Methionine

Since high phenylalanine poisons the brain, I started to take an interested in other amino acids including methionine. Methionine is in beans, eggs, fish, garlic, lentils, meat, milk, and onions. I like these foods, but there are certain health problems associated with animal products. For example, dairy products contain lactose. People with lactose intolerance get sick from dairy products. Animal products in general contain cholesterol and saturated fats. Babies don't have to worry too much about atherosclerosis because it happens at an older age. This is why babies survive on milk. Babies are designed by Mother Nature to survive on milk. Conversely, milk is designed by Mother Nature to make babies survive.

However, once you are no longer a baby the picture changes.

Conclusions

A great deal more research needs to be done. The diet that I am advocating has lowered my blood pressure from 140 to 106. Hypertension is above 140. From 120 to 140 is borderline. Below 120 is normal. As part of the diet I took potassium supplements, which may have helped. I lowered my weight to 180 lbs, which isn't too bad for somebody 6'3" tall.

The diet is high in fiber, which is why it fights obesity. It is low in salt, which is one of the reasons it fights hypertension. The cavemen did not eat salt.

As far as mental health goes, my theory for schizophrenia has been explained in previous articles. Amino acids flood the brain cells. The articles in the bibliography explain more details of the diet and the justifications for it. I am still researching it, and I plan to write more on it. I favor the use of certain supplements including flavonoids.

Bibliography

1. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/754745/histopathology_as_an_approach_to_schizophrenia.html

2. www.associatedcontent.com/article/754463/mental_health_science.html

3. www.associatedcontent.com/article/754821/the_pathological_anatomy_of_schizophrenia.html

4. www.associatedcontent.com/article/748865/schizophrenia_as_an_encephalopathy.html
5. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/630989/the_riddle_of_mental_illness.html