The Various Mental Disorders

Mental illness has been a curse of many great writers. There is even a theory that Winston Churchill, who wrote a series of books about World War II, had manic-depressive disorder. This theory was advanced by his son, Randolph, who was a writer.

Kraepelin

"While accepting that the brain appeared macroscopically normal in schizophrenia, Kraepelin (1913) interpreted a variety of abnormalities found at the microscopic level by Alzheimer, Nissl and others as evidence of severe and widespread cortical disease." Chua & McKenna (12)

Pauling

"Varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the human body may control mental disease." - Linus Pauling

In 1968 Pauling invented the term "orthomolecular". Previously he had described sickle cell anemia as "molecular". He proposed that the various forms of mental disease be treated by nutritional means.

Averback (1981)

Dr. Averback studied schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's chorea. His results are reported in Ref. 1. He found massive bloating & death of neurons in all three diseases, all of which have psychiatric symtoms. The neurons were filled with fat and pigment, which he thought was lipofuscin. The Nissl substance was barely recognizable.

My interpretation of his findings is that the neurons are overeating some macronutrients due to a transport error. The destruction of the Nissl bodies suggests that amino acids are the culprits. The Nissl bodies house amino acids. The pathology was seen in the basal ganglia and in the septal area.

But what does this have to do with Linus Pauling? My theory is that a diet very low in amino acids should be used as a treatment for all three diseases. Huntington's chorea shows pathology in the basal ganglia, which are high in dopamine. Thus there is a possibility that dopamine is involved. A toxin could be created from dopamine that causes the transport error (across the cell membrane).

PKU

This terrible disease is caused by an inborn error of metabolism. Phenylalanine must be avoided in the diet. Both phenylalanine and tyrosine have been tried as supplements in mental diseases, but they have produced headaches according to Elson M. Haas M.D., author of Staying Healthy with Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine published by Celestial Arts.

Aspartame is made from aspartic acid and phenylalanine, and it must be avoided by patients with PKU. Many foods must be avoided, including oats and wheat germ. Phenylalanine, abbreviated PHE, is in the following foods:

Almonds, avocado, bananas, beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, cheese, corn, cottage cheese, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, lima beans, meat, nuts, ovalbumin, peanuts, pickled herring, pumpkin seeds, seafood, seeds, sesame seeds, soy, whey, whole grains.

These foods must be avoided on the PKU diet. PKU can cause mental symptoms and sometimes mental retardation unless treated early. Amazingly candy is allowed on this diet unless it contains aspartame (also called Equal). Nutrition is turned upside down on this diet. Vegetable oils are good.

Conclusions

My theory is that a diet similar to the PKU diet should be tried for schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's chorea. Averback himself thought that a virus causes schizophrenia. I feel that this is a false theory. Schizophrenia could be contagious if this were true.

Another theory of mine is that certain phytochemicals might be useful including flavonoids and other polyphenols. Flavonoids 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.

These are called "vitamin P" by orthomolecular.org. They are supposed to have antiviral properties and other healthy functions. They are supposed to help vitamin C.

References

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13.

A roadmap to disentangle the molecular etiology of schizophrenia.

Falkai P, Mike O, Inez MG, Paul H, Andras BG, Sophia F, MEOS Consortium.

Eur Psychiatry. 2008 Jun;23(4):224-32. Epub 2008 Jun 25. Review.

14.

Does schizophrenia result from developmental or degenerative processes?

Church SM, Cotter D, Bramon E, Murray RM.

J Neural Transm Suppl. 2002;(63):129-47. Review.

15.

The neuropathology of schizophrenia. A critical review of the data and their interpretation.

Harrison PJ.

Brain. 1999 Apr;122 ( Pt 4):593-624. Review.

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25. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1366198/why_psychodietetics.html

26. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1371783/a_history_of_psychiatric_theory.html

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29. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1340193/advances_in_affective_disorder_research.html