The Healing Substances Found in Plants

In 1968 Linus Pauling introduced orthomolecular medicine. At the time he was interested mostly in vitamin C, a substance found mostly in plant foods. He favored the right amounts of the right molecules to correct the molecular environment of the brain. He fealt that this would treat mental illness better than shock treatments, etc. Soon he expanded his theories to include cancer, atherosclerosis, etc. He was greeted with a storm of criticism from organizations funded by the drug companies such as the APA (American Psychiatric Association).

However, his ideas planted a seed. Soon Hoffer & Osmond of Canada endorsed his views. I endorsed his views, but I was an unknown at the time. Now I am all over the Internet. Oken rejected Pauling's views, but I feel that Oken (1968) was wrong.

Tryptophan

Tryptophan has been very controversial. There is a theory that it is helpful to depression. This theory was based on a report by Coppen of England that it was low in the cerebrospinal fluid. My take on this is that it was low in the CSF because of a transport error. In other words, tryptophan is being taken up into the cells too rapidly.

I tested the theory and took a lot of tryptophan. It made me sick temporarily.

I favor a diet low in tryptophan for mental disease. Tryptophan is found in the following foods:

Bananas, beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, cottage cheese, dairy products, dates, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, milk, nuts, peanuts, protein (hydrolysis), seafood, seeds, soy, turkey, whey, whole grains.

Methionine

I also favor a restriction of methionine in mental disease because the toxin that causes schizophrenia is heavily methylated. This toxin is called DMPEA. Methionine is in the following foods:

Brewer's yeast, caseinate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, meat, seafood, whey.

Bioflavonoids

Bioflavonoids are plant pigments. They are a type of polyphenol. These substances are considered to have anticancer properties. I feel that they may help mental illness because polyphenols inhibit the enzyme COMT. This enzyme creates DMPEA.

Bioflavonoids are sometimes called "vitamin P". They 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.

Conclusions

A source that I used in writing this article is the website www.orthomolecular.org. This website deals with mental illness, cancer, and a variety of diseases, mostly metabolic. Some nutrients are considered to fight infections because they strengthen the immune system. My own website is www.CraigOlson.bizhosting.com. I had to put the Bizhosting in there to get the site for free. They give you a free website so they get advertising.