Why Orthomolecular Medicine?

"Andrew Saul is a brilliant speaker and writer. His DoctorYourself.com website has an enormous amount of very important information dealing with the use of nutrition in the treatment of mental and physical disease. It is one of the very best I have seen. Thank you, Dr. Saul, for making this information more available and thus promoting the development of the medicine of the 21st century, Orthomolecular Medicine."
(Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.)

Introduction

Linus Pauling invented the word "orthomolecular" in a brilliant 1968 paper (1). At first he used it in regards to psychiatry. Later on he decided that the same word could be used for treating a large number of different metabolic diseases.

Refs. 2-4 are also by Pauling. However, a number of scientists have done similar research without using the word "orthomolecular". Many scientists have studied amino acids, which are natural body & brain substances.

Amino Acids

One of the common fallacies is that diet supposedly does not affect the brain. This fallacy is used as an argument against orthomolecular psychiatry. Ref. 5 demonstrates that diet does indeed affect the brain.

The drug Aldomet (alpha-methyl-DOPA), used for high blood pressure, is similar to an amino acid (6). This drug can have psychiatric side effects. The drug L-DOPA, again similar to an amino acid, also has psychiatric side effects.

ADHD

Ref. 7 proposes a theory for ADHD. This disease is thought to be an energy deficiency syndrome. Similar theories have been proposed for schizophrenia and for depression. These theories are very similar to orthomolecular theories of abnormal carbohydrate metabolism.

Tryptophan

Ref. 8 reported abnoraml tryptophan metabolism in depression. The tryptophan breakdown index was higher in depression than in controls. Ref. 9 reported similar findings.

Cancer

Interferon is a drug used to treat cancer. Unfortunately this drug can cause symptoms of depression (10). It does so by increasing tryptophan metabolism. Vitamin C is considered to fight against cancer (11).

Vitamins

Vitamin A is found in the following foods (11): Barley grass, butter, cabbage, carotenoids (plant origins, converted to A by the body), carrot root, egg yolk, fish, gotu kola, liver, retinol (ready made A, animal origin, alcohol form), retinyl palmitate (ester form of retinol, ester is preponderant in fish liver oils), spirulina, whole milk.

Vitamin A is good for the eyes and also has other beneficial functions.

Vitamin C helps heal wounds, is good for the teeth, and has many other functions. It is considered to be good for the blood vessels. Vitamin C is found in the following foods (11): 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. Fermentation of sorbitol.

Although butter is rich in fat-soluble vitamins, I do not recommend it because it has bad fats including cholesterol and saturated fats. Fat can make you gain weight. Saturated fats can be converted to cholesterol.

Conclusions

We have only scratched the surface of this important and complex subject. In the future I may write about the late Roger Williams, who was a brilliant advocate for orthomolecular medicine. Williams made great contributions to the science of nutrition. He is not to be confused with the explorer Roger Williams who founded Rhode Island.

References

1. Pauling, L, Orthomolecular psychiatry: varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the human body may control mental disease. Science 160, 265-271 (1968).

2. How to Live Longer and Feel Better by Linus Pauling

Corvallis, OR : Oregon State University Press, 2006. 300 pages, plus index, notes and extensive bibliography.

3. Linus Pauling before Congress. Healthline 1, 1-6 (1975).

4. Interview with Linus Pauling, conducted by David Ridgway. J. Chem. Ed. 53,471-476 (1976).

5. Fernstrom JD, Faller DV. Neutral amino acids in the brain: changes in response to food ingestion. J Neurochem. 1978;30:1531-1538.

6. Science. 1977 Sep 2;197(4307):1014-5. Diet and uptake of aldomet by the brain: competition with natural large neutral amino acids. Markovitz DC, Fernstrom JD.

7. Todd RD, Botteron KN. Is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder an energy deficiency syndrome? Biol Psychiatry. 2001;50:151-158.

8. J Affect Disord. 2007 Feb;98(1-2):143-51. Epub 2006 Sep 6. Kynurenine pathway in major depression: evidence of impaired neuroprotection. Myint AM, Kim YK, Verkerk R, Scharpé S, Steinbusch H, Leonard B.

9. Barry S, Clarke G, Scully P, Dinan TG. Kynurenine pathway in psychosis: evidence of increased tryptophan degradation. J Psychopharmacology. 2009;23:287-294.

10. Capuron L, Ravaud A, Dantzer R. Timing and specificity of the cognitive changes induced by interleukin-2 and interferon-alpha treatments in cancer patients. Psychosom Med. 2001;63:376-386.

11. www.orthomolecular.org.