Why Orthomolecular Medicine?

Many diseases are metabolic ones. There are chemical imbalances that need to be corrected. An example of this is diabetes. Diabetes is treatable by diet and also treatable by drugs. Unfortunately there are diseases that are not as well understood, such as schizophrenia. Again schizophrenia is caused by chemical imbalances, but chemical imbalances are not well understood. They may be largely localized to the brain, as suggested by Linus Pauling, or even to a segment of the brain.

My view is that we have to find out what the chemical imbalances are and correct them. In diabetes there is a logical rationale for the drug used, which is insulin. In schizophrenia the drug rationales have been guesswork, unfortunately. It has been trial & error, with too many errors.

The Orthomolecular Approach

One of my main sources has been the website www.orthomolecular.org, which is a nonprofit site designed to benefit humanity. The site studies various nutrients, including amino acids. A sample amino acid is cysteine, which is found in proteins.

Protein

Good plant sources of protein are beans, peas, nuts, bread, and cereals.

Orthomolecular Theory

"The methods principally used now for treating patients with mental disease are psychotherapy (psychoanalysis and related efforts to provide insight and to decrease environmental stress), chemotherapy (mainly with the use of powerful synthetic drugs, such as chlorpromazine, or powerful natural products from plants, such as reserpine), and convulsive shock therapy (electroconvulsive therapy, insulin coma therapy, pentylenetetrazol shock therapy). I have reached the conclusion that another general method of treatment, which may be called orthomolecular therapy, may be found to be of great value, and may turn out to be the best method of treatment for many patients." - Linus Pauling, Science, April 19, 1968, p. 265
Although Pauling invented the name "orthomolecular", he was influenced by the ideas of Hoffer & Osmond. Unfortunately both Pauling and Osmond are now deceased, but Hoffer is still alive, although quite old.

"The phenothiazines are not, of course, normally present in the human body and are not orthomolecular." Pauling (1995) from the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine

The Tryptophan Theory

I favor the tryptophan theory, which I have written a number of articles about. See the references. There are two tryptophan theories, but one of these is false. I have disproved the tryptophan deficiency theory with experiments. According to this theory, serotonin is deficient due to a shortage of tryptophan. That has been proven wrong by the serotonin syndrome, a terrible drug side effect caused by SSRIs. The correct theory is that tryptophan floods the brain cells.

This should be treated by a diet low in tryptophan. Linus Pauling favored a diet low in sucrose. This sucrose restriction was also favored by Adelle Davis, Abram Hoffer, Wendel & Beebe, Carlton Fredericks, and others. I feel that the sucrose restriction is correct because sucrose pumps tryptophan into the brain.

Conclusions

Tryptophan is found in almost all protein foods except for gelatin. Therefore the best diet may be a vegan diet, which is relatively low in protein. Eat fruits, vegetables, and grains. Nuts are high in protein. Beans are high in protein, and should be restricted even though they have the good feature of being high in fiber. Nuts are also high in fat. For more details, consult the references.

Unfortunately the drugs have been plagued by very bad side effects and interactions.

References

1. www.associatedcontent.com/article/515061/what_is_orthomolecular_psychiatry.html .

2. www.associatedcontent.com/article/499417/psychiatric_drug_side_effects.html .
3. www.associatedcontent.com/article/485563/the_autointoxication_theory_of_schizophrenia.html .