Proof that Schizophrenia is Organic
Thomas Henry Huxley (1868)
"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."
Henry David Thoreau (1854)
"Observation is a passive science, experimentation an active science."
Claude Bernard (1865)
Introduction
I get a great deal of vague criticism from people who tell me I am wrong but don't bother to tell me why I am wrong. These same people present little if any evidence. I have included references that prove that I am right that schizophrenia is organic.
Dide, Ref. 6, found pathology in the hypothalamus in schizophrenia. Unfortunately this brilliant French worker is now deceased.
Fungfeld (1952)
Fungfeld found pathology in the thalamus in schizophrenia. This work was presented at an international symposium on neuropathology in Italy in 1952.
Hopf (1952)
Hopf also presented a paper at this same Turin symposium. Hopf reported pathology in both the pallidum and striatum in schizophrenia. These subcortical structures are in the basal ganglia, which are high in dopamine. This suggests the possible involvement of dopamine in schizophrenia.
Drug Toxicities
Unfortunately psychiatric drugs have produced toxicities (Ref. 20, 21, and 22). Therefore it would make sense to look at orthomolecular psychiatry, which is cheaper, safer, and more logical than drugs.
Vitamins
Vitamin C was recommended by the late Linus Pauling. He claimed that this vitamin was deficient in schizophrenia. This may be true, but it might be a side effect of the disease rather than a cause. Nevertheless, if it is deficient, this vitamin should be given or else physical deterioration could result. Vitamin C is in the following foods:
Acerola fruit, aloe vera juice, black currant, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, capsicum, cauliflower, citrus fruits, citrus fruits, collards, currants, grapefruit, guava, kale, lemons, mango, oranges, papayas, parsley, potatoes, rose hips, spinach, strawberries, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, tangerines, tomatoes, watercress.
Supposedly flavonoids are in the same foods that vitamin C is in.
Flavonoids
Sometimes called vitamin P and sometimes called "bioflavonoids", these substances are in the following foods:
Apricots, bark, black currants, blue and red berries, buckwheat, cherries, elderberry, fruits, grapes, grapefruit, garlic, green tea, green vegetables, hawthorne berry, horsetail, lemons, nuts, oil, oranges, onions, peppers, prunes, rose hips, soy beans, the peels of citrus fruits, and shepherd's purse.
Amino Acids
Although flavonids may be helpful, amino acids may be adverse. One of the theories for schizophrenia, credited to Dohan of Pennsylvania, is that it is a food allergy. Dohan thought that schizophrenics were allergic to gluten and to dairy products (which contain the amino acid glutamine). Dohan based this theory on celiac disease, which presents with both psychiatric symptoms and gastrointestinal symptoms. Celiac disease is treated by a low glutamine diet.
Glutamine is in the following foods:
Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, seafood, seeds, soy, whey, whole grains. Hydrolysis of gluten, beet root or other proteins.
Glutamic acid is particularly high in the brain. Glutamic acid is in the following foods:
Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, and protein-rich plant foods
Protein
My theory is that Dohan was on the right track, but more than one amino acid is involved. Amino acids are flooding the brain cells. This explains the neuropathology data. Protein is made up of amino acids.
Protein-rich plant foods are mostly vegetables, but not all vegetables. Tofu, beans, grains, nuts, seeds, and vegetables have protein. Animal products tend to be high in protein. The World's Healthiest Foods website considers spinach, tofu, mustard greens, crimini mushrooms, soybeans, collard greens, cauliflower and many legumes including lentils, split peas, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans and garbanzo beans to be high in protein.
Conclusions
It may be possible to treat schizophrenia with a diet. This diet is low in protein but high in flavonoids. The reason why flavonoids, which are thought to prevent cancer and heart disease, are helpful in schizophrenia is that they inhibit the enzyme COMT. This enzyme creates the toxin DMPEA from dopamine. DMPEA is only found in schizophrenics and in the peyote cactus. It is the DMPEA that causes amino acids to flood the brain cells.
It may be that the brain thinks that it has pellagra, which is a deficiency of vitamin B3. Vitamin B3 can be made from tryptophan, an amino acid. Thus the DMPEA may be an antipellagra factor which is trying to be helpful. However, the result is that the brain is being flooded with tryptophan, which can foul up brain glucose metabolism. This happens in acute intermittent porphyria, which has psychiatric symtoms. In AIP there is an error in tryptophan metabolism.
References
1.
The neuropathology of schizophrenia. A critical review of the data and their interpretation.
Harrison PJ.
Brain. 1999 Apr;122 ( Pt 4):593-624. Review.
2. Southard EE. On the topographical distribution of cortex lesions and anomalies in dementia praecox, with some account of their functional significance. Am J Insan 1915; 71: 603-71.
3. Stevens JR. An anatomy of schizophrenia? Arch Gen Psychiatry 1973; 29: 177-89.
4. Stevens JR. Neuropathology of schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1982; 39: 1131-9.
5. Josephy H: Dementia praecox (Schizophrenie), in Bumke O (ed): Die Anatomie der Psychosen. Berlin, Springer Verlag, 1930, p 763.
6. Dide MM: Les syndromes hypothalamiques et la dyspsychogenese. Rev Neurol 1934;6:941-943.
7. Morgan LO, Gregory HS: Pathological changes in the tuber cinereum in a group of psychoses. J Nerv Ment Dis 1935;82:286-298.
8. Von Buttlar-Brentano K: Pathohistologische Feststellungen am basalkern Schizophrener. J Nerv Ment Dis 1952;116:646-653.
9. Fungfeld EW:: Pathologisch-anatomische Untersuchungen im Nucleus anterior thalami bei Schizophrenie, in Proceedings of the International Congress of Neuropathology. Turin, Italy, Rosenberg & Sellier, 1952, vol 3, pp 648-659.
10. Hopf A: Über histopathologische Veränderungen im Pallidum und Striatum bei Schizophrenie, in Proceedings of the International Congress of Neuropathology. Turin, Italy, Rosenberg & Sellier, 1952, vol 3, pp 629-635.
11. Van der Horst L: Histopathology of clinically diagnosed schizophrenic psychoses or schizophrenia-like psychoses of unknown origin, in Proceedings of the International Congress of Neuropathology. Turin, Italy, Rosenberg & Sellier, 1952, vol 3, pp 648-659. 12. Hyden H: Nerve cell chemistry and neuropathological problems studied by means of quantitative methods, in Proceedings of the First International Congress of Neuropathology. Turin, Italy, Rosenberg & Sellier, 1952, vol 3, pp 570-594.
13. Nieto D, Escobar A: Major psychoses, in Minckler J (ed):Pathology of the Nervous System. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1972, vol 3, pp 2654-2665.
14. Tyrrell DAJ, Parry RP, Crow TJ, et al: Possible virus in schizophrenia and some neurological disorders. Lancet 1979;2:839-841.
15. Kraeplin E: Psychiatrie, ed 5. Leipzig, Barth, 1896.
16. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1520081/the_neurochemistry_of_mental_diseases.html
17. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1506969/a_review_of_scientific_studies_of_mental.html
18. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1485724/a_hypothesis_for_mental_disease.html
19. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1395958/relationship_between_bipolar_disorder.html
20.
Aripiprazole-induced agitation after clozapine discontinuation: a case report.
Cho DY, Lindenmayer JP.
J Clin Psychiatry. 2009 Jan;70(1):141-3.
21.
Ujike H, Nomura A, Morita Y, Morio A, Okahisa Y, Kotaka T, Kodama M, Ishihara T, Kuroda S.
J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Sep;69(9):1416-22.
22.
Ciranni MA, Kearney TE, Olson KR.
J Clin Psychiatry. 2009 Jan;70(1):122-9. Epub 2009 Jan 13.
23.
Atypical antipsychotic drugs and the risk of sudden cardiac death.
Ray WA, Chung CP, Murray KT, Hall K, Stein CM.
N Engl J Med. 2009 Jan 15;360(3):225-35.
Published by Craig Olson
I have worked at many different jobs including as a scientist, a mental health worker, a physical health worker, etc. I am an advocate for better health care and an advocate for the disabled. View profile
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