What is Schizophrenia?

One of the most popular theories for schizophrenia is the glutamate theory (4-7). This amino acid is found in high concentrations in the brain. Refs. 8 & 9 provide evidence in support of this theory. This theory is old, dating back to many reports by Dohan of Philadelphia. Dohan noted psychiatric symptoms in celiac disease, a disease in which glutamine is high. Celiac disease is treated by a low glutamine diet. Dohan thought that celiac disease provided an important clue to schizophrenia. He thought that schizophrenia should be treated as a food allergy.

White Matter

White matter abnormalities have been reported (1, 2, 12, 13, 14). The myelin sheaths appear to be compromised.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Complementary and alternative medicine is being recognized as valuable in treating high blood pressure (15, 16). However, it is rarely used in schizophrenia. This type of medicine is sometimes called "integrative" medicine. Flavonoids are one type of treatment used in these types of medicine. They are considered useful in lowering blood pressure and preventing high blood pressure (17). My own theory is that they may alleviate schizophrenia (20-23).

Coenzyme Q10 is considered good for the heart (24). However, my experience is that it has no effect on mental health.

Vitamins are used in orthomolecular treatment (25). They are also considered good for the heart.

Flavonoids

Flavonoids are in fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, beer, wine, and fruit drinks. I do not recommend beer or wine because of the alcohol content. Coffee contains caffeine, which I do not recommend. Only drink decaf coffee.

Flavonoids are considered to protect against coronary heart disease (27, 28, 29).

PKU

This inborn error of metabolism has psychiatric symptoms (30, 31). A special diet low in phenylalanine is used as a treatment. This disease, described first by Folling, adds support to Dohan's theory of schizophrenia being a food allergy. Dohan's theories are only recognized by orthomolecular scientists.

Conclusions

Many full text documents on these matters are available on the Internet including my own articles at Associated Content and my photo albums and slide shows on Gather. Other documents are available free full text on PubMed Central, which is a website run by the National Library of Medicine.

My own theory is that tryptophan floods the brain cells in schizophrenia. This is caused by a toxin called DMPEA. DMPEA is a toxic metabolite of dopamine. One theory is that the enzyme COMT which metabolizes dopamine is abnormal. Polyphenols inhibit this enzyme.

But what about psychiatric drugs? For one thing these drugs are extremely expensive, so you better have good insurance. For another thing they have very bad side effects and interactions. Orthomolecular treatments have good side effects and are cheaper. I recommend a diet very low in tryptophan. Niacin should be taken to prevent a deficiency of that vitamin.

Tryptophan is in animal foods, legumes, and other plant products which are high in protein.

References

1. Davis K, Stewart D, Friedman J, Buchsbaum M, Harvey P, Hof P, et al. White matter changes in schizophrenia: evidence for myelin-related dysfunction. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2003;60:443-456.

2. Uranova N, Vostrikov V, Orlovskaya D, Rachmanova V. Oligodendroglial density in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia and mood disorders: a study from the Stanley Neuropathology Consortium. Schizophrenia Research. 2004;67:269-275.

3. Hakak Y, Walker J, Li C, Wong W, Davis K, Buxbaum J, et al. Genome-wide expression analysis reveals dysregulation of myelination-related genes in chronic schizophrenia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U S A. 2001;98:4746-4751.

4. Javitt DC. Glutamate and Schizophrenia: Phencyclidine, N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptors, and Dopamine-Glutamate Interactions. International Review Neurobiology. 2007;78:69-108.

5. Stone JM, Morrison P, Pilowsky LS. Glutamate and dopamine dysregulation in schizophrenia - a synthesis and selective review. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 2007.

6. Coyle JT. Glutamate and schizophrenia: beyond the dopamine hypothesis. Cellular Molecular Neurobiology. 2006;26:365-384.

7. Carter CJ. Schizophrenia susceptibility genes converge on interlinked pathways related to glutamatergic transmission and long-term potentiation, oxidative stress and oligodendrocyte viability. Schizophrenia Research. 2006;86:1-14.

8. Theberge J, Bartha R, Drost D, Menon R, Malla A, Takhar J, et al. Glutamate and glutamine measured with 4.0 T proton MRS in never-treated patients with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2002;159:1944-1946.

9. Tebartz van Elst L, Valerius G, Buchert M, Thiel T, Rusch N, Bubl E, et al. Increased prefrontal and hippocampal glutamate concentration in schizophrenia: evidence from a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Biological Psychiatry. 2005;58:724-730.

10. Steen RG, Hamer RM, Lieberman JA. Measurement of brain metabolites by 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy in patients with schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2005;30:1949-1962.

11. Brown R, Colter N, Corsellis J, Crow T, Frith C, Jagoe R, et al. Postmortem evidence of structural brain changes in schizophrenia. Differences in brain weight, temporal horn area, and parahippocampal gyrus compared with affective disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1986;43:36-42.

12. Foong J, Symms M, Barker G, Maier M, Woermann F, Miller D, et al. Neuropathological abnormalities in schizophrenia: evidence from magnetization transfer imaging. Brain. 2001;124:882-892.

13. Buchsbaum M, Tang C, Peled S, Gudbjartsson H, Lu D, Hazlett E, et al. MRI white matter diffusion anisotropy and PET metabolic rate in schizophrenia. Neuroreport. 1998;9:425-430.

14. Lim K, Hedehus M, Moseley M, de Crespigny A, Sullivan E, Pfefferbaum A. Compromised white matter tract integrity in schizophrenia inferred from diffusion tensor imaging. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1999;56:367-394.

15. Yusuf S, Hawken S, Ounpuu S, Dans T, Avezum A, Lanas F, et al. Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study. Lancet. 2004;364(9438):937-52.

16. Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, Cushman WC, Green LA, Izzo JL, Jr, et al. Seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Hypertension. 2003;42(6):1206-52. Epub 2003 Dec 1.

17. Hollenberg NK, Schmitz H, Macdonald I, Poulter N. Cocoa, flavanols and cardiovascular risk. Br J Cardiol. 2004;11(5):379-86.

18. Engler MB, Engler MM, Chen CY, Malloy MJ, Browne A, Chiu EY, et al. Flavonoid-rich dark chocolate improves endothelial function and increases plasma epicatechin concentration in healthy adults. J Am Coll Nutr. 2004;23(3):197-204.

19. Balzer J, Rassaf T, Heiss C, Kleinbongard P, Lauer T, Merx M, et al. Sustained benefits in vascular function through flavanol-containing cocoa in medicated diabetic patients: a double-masked, randomized, controlled trial. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;51(22):2141-9.

20. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1680090/cuban_research_on_schizophrenia.html

21. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1680380/the_virus_theory_for_schizophrenia.html

22. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1676885/new_ideas_in_psychiatry.html

23. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1649109/mitochondrial_dysfunction_in_mental.html

24. Overvad K, Diamant B, Holm L, Holmer G, Mortensen SA, Stender S. Coenzyme Q10 in health and disease. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1999;53(10):764-70.

25. Holick MF. Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med. 2007;357(3):266-81.

26. Vieth R. Why the optimal requirement for vitamin D3 is probably much higher than what is officially recommended for adults. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2004;89-90(1-5):575-9.

27. Complementary and alternative medicine approaches to blood pressure reduction: An evidence-based review Richard Nahas Can Fam Physician. 2008 November; 54(11): 1529-1533. PMCID: PMC2592323.

28. Cabrera C, Artacho R, Gimenez R. Beneficial effects of green tea - a review. J Am Coll Nutr. 2006;25:79-99.

29. Chang WT, Shao ZH, Vanden Hoek TL, McEntee E, Mehendale SR, Li J, Becker LB, Yuan CS. Cardioprotective effects of grape seed proanthocyanidins, baicalin and wogonin: comparison between acute and chronic treatments. Am J Chin Med. 2006;34:363-365.

30. Phenylketonuria: An Inborn Error of Phenylalanine Metabolism. Robin A Williams, Cyril DS Mamotte, and John R Burnett. Clin Biochem Rev. 2008 February; 29(1): 31-41. PMCID: PMC2423317.

31. Michals-Matalon K. Developments in phenylketonuria. Topics Clin Nutr. 2001;16:41-50.