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Orthomolecular medicine and optimum nutrition is the theory that mental diseases or abnormalities result from various chemical imbalances or deficiencies and can be cured by restoring proper levels of chemical substances, such as vitamins and minerals, in the body.

Orthomolecular medicine is a minority view held by a small number of medical practitioners. Orthomolecular treatments are utilized in complementary and alternative medicine fields and rarely in mainstream medicine. The controversial field of orthomolecular psychiatry deals with the use of orthomolecular medicine to treat psychiatric problems.

The orthomolecular field, although viewed by its supporters as science-based, remains controversial among mainstream medical organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, CHAMPUS, and the Canadian Paediatric Society, because of unsubstantiated claims, lack of proven benefits, and serious toxic effects. Orthomolecular proponents, however, argue that recent mainstream nutritional studies provide support for their theories.

History and Development

Orthomolecular megavitamin therapies, such as "megadose" usage of tocopherols and ascorbates, date back to the 1930s.

The term "orthomolecular" was first used by Linus Pauling in 1968, to express the "idea of the right molecules in the right amounts" and subsequently defined "orthomolecular medicine" as "the treatment of disease by the provision of the optimum molecular environment, especially the optimum concentrations of substances normally present in the human body." or as "the preservation of good health and the treatment of disease by varying the concentrations in the human body of substances that are normally present in the body and are required for health."

Since 1968 the orthomolecular field has developed further through the works of mainstream and non-mainstream researchers. Despite thus it still is often closely associated by the public with Pauling's advocacy of multi-gram doses of vitamin C for optimal health.

An example of a recent mainstream researcher is nutrition researcher Bruce Ames although he does not use the term itself. However his research deals with nutrition and specific genetic disease conditions (as indeed did Pauling's original article which defined the term "orthomolecular"). Ames' research includes investigating the effects of large doses of, for example, the nutrients alpha-lipoic acid (a coenzyme precursor) and the carnitine (an amino acid complex) on restoring metabolic health, and in particular mitochondrial function, in animal models Ames has also investigated the role of high dose B-vitamin therapy in alleviating approximately 50 defective co-enzyme binding affinities, of which one, at least, every human suffers from (example of one genetic disease condition: Over 40% of the population is hetro- or homo-zygous with the thermolabile variant of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and as a result requires extra riboflavin ).

Ames has, based on his research, developed a supplement for human use.

Method

Orthomolecular medicine posits that many typical diets are insufficient for long term health; thus, orthomolecular medical diagnoses and treatment often focus on use of natural substances found in a healthy diet such as vitamins, dietary minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, amino acids, essential fatty acids, dietary fiber and intestinal short chain fatty acids.

In orthomolecular medicine, some diseases are posited to originate from multiple nonspecific causes, congenital and acquired. These causes are said to give rise to biochemical aberrations, the accumulation of which results in symptoms, from which the perception of a disease state follows. Orthomolecular medicine argues that some clinically-apparent diseases may be described as fuzzy sets of biochemical anomalies and that it is advantageous for physicians to recognize and to correct patients' small sets of biochemical anomalies at an early stage, before expansion of the anomalies results in recognizable diseases.

In practice, the orthomolecular doctor relies heavily on laboratory testing. In addition to standard clinical chemistries, orthomolecular doctors now employ a wide range of sophisticated laboratory analysis, including those for amino acids, organic acids, vitamins and minerals, functional vitamin status, hormones, immunology, microbiology, and gastrointestinal function. Many of these tests have not been accepted by mainstream medicine.

Orthomolecular therapy consists in attempting to provide optimal amounts of substances normal to the body, most commonly by oral administration. In the early days of orthomolecular medicine, this usually meant high-dose, single-agent nutrient therapy. However, some ailments require the withholding of normal substances. Thus, "optimal" is a matter for clinical judgment. Most often, the orthomolecular practitioner employs multiple vital substances--amino acids, enzymes, non-essential nutrients, hormones, vitamins, minerals, etc.--in a therapeutic effort to restore those (or derivative substances) to levels statistically normal for healthy young persons.

Often supplementation with relatively large doses of vitamins is given and the name megavitamin therapy has become popularly associated with the field. Megavitamin therapy is the administration of large amounts of vitamins, often many times greater than the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). Short chained fatty acids are produced by fermentation of dietary fiber in the colon, then absorbed and utilized, often aided with a combination of probiotics, prebiotics and "glyconutrients" added to the diet.

The substances may be administered by changing the diet to emphasize certain elements high in nutrients, dietary supplementation with tablets, or intravenous injection of nutrient solutions.

Popularity

A survey released in May 2004 by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine focused on who used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), what was used, and why it was used in the United States by adults age 18 years and over during 2002. According to this recent survey, megavitamin therapy was the twelfth most commonly used CAM therapy (2.8%) in the United States during 2002, though the study did not distinguish between full-scale orthodox orthomolecular medicine and lay use of relatively publicized Vitamin C megadose supplements. . Poor adults were more likely to use megavitamin therapy than non-poor adults.

Relation to mainstream medicine

Orthomolecular medicine claims an evolving nutritional pharmacology that overlaps between natural medicine and mainstream medicine. The International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine has some conventionally-trained doctors among its members and authors.

Mainstream medicine is often dismissive of orthomolecular medicine: the leading mainstream guide to alternative medicine claimed in 1998: "Scientific research has found no benefit from orthomolecular therapy for any disease." Supporters claim that some aspects of orthomolecular medicine, and in particular the optimal nutrition subset, have support in mainstream scientific research in a variety of areas:

  • Studies suggesting that folic acid and selenium reduce the incidence of cancers
  • Early studies suggesting that vitamin C and vitamin E reduce coronary disease mortality
  • Studies suggesting that niacin and zinc reduce overall mortality rates
  • Bruce Ames's studies on the effects of vitamins on genetic diseases and biochemical aging processes, and his advocacy of one-a-day multivitamins in cancer prevention

However, these studies (some of which have yet to be fully accepted) all come from mainstream medical sources that neither subscribe to nor claim to support orthomolecular doctrine, and, in at least some cases, explicitly reject claims of orthomolecular proponents that nutritional supplements are desireable.

The skepticism regarding orthomolecular medicine comes in part from some of its proponents making far more sweeping claims than those supported by double-blind controlled studies. Claims have been made that nutrition can cure or treat "alcoholism, allergies, arthritis, autism, epilepsy, hypertension, hypoglycemia, migraine headaches, depression, learning disabilities, retardation, mental and metabolic disorders, skin problems, and hyperactivity." Proponents argue that these claims come from clinical observation often from physicians with a lifetime of general practise.

Criticism

Many mainstream medical physicians regard most orthomolecular therapies as insufficiently proven for clinical use, and criticize leading orthomolecular proponents for making unsubstantiated claims such as Robert Cathcart's claim that vitamin C is a legitimate treatment for SARS. Proponents contend that many mainstream doctors have little familiarity with the detailed concepts and clinical background of orthomolecular medicine. Mainstream medicine disputes the validity of most orthomolecular therapies based on the lack of authoritative studies and the poor results from the studies that have been done. Proponents dispute the results of mainstream studies, arguing that those studies used much lower doses, frequencies, duration or assimilable forms than they recommend or suffered from other special conditions, contamination, populations or statistical treatment often not clearly published in the documentation.

Linus Pauling has been criticized for making overbroad claims for the efficacy of vitamin C but has received some support for modified claims in the last few years. Contemporaries of Pauling report that he "frequently" suffered from colds.

The relationship of mainstream medicine to orthomolecular proponents has usually been adversarial, with the latter accusing mainstream medicine of a conspiracy to suppress their discipline. The American Academy of Pediatrics even labelled orthomolecular medicine as a "cult" in 1976. Many health professionals see orthomolecular medicine as an encouragement for individuals to dose themselves with large amounts of vitamins and other nutritients in an unsupervised way, which may be damaging to health. Risks of megavitamins may include increased risk of coronary heart disease, hypertension, thrombophlebitis, peripheral neuropathy, ataxia, neurological effects, liver toxicity, congenital abnormalities, spontaneous abortion, gouty arthritis, jaundice, kidney stones, and diarrhea.

Many physicians express concern that megavitamin and orthomolecular therapies used solely as alternative treatments can create dangerous delays in obtaining their conventional treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy for cancer. For example, in a highly publicized Canadian case, the chemotherapy treatment of a 13-year-old cancer patient, Tyrell Dueck, was delayed, possibly fatally, because his parents were influenced by claims of orthomolecular cures for cancer. Sustained megadoses of Vitamin C may inhibit the immune system, a particular danger for AIDS and cancer patients resorting to orthomolecular medicine.

Sometimes proponents claim partisan politics, pharmaceutical industry influence, and competitive considerations to be significant factors; on the other hand, prominent orthomolecular proponents sell lines of orthomolecular products, orthomolecular practitioners sell expensive tests of questionable benefit such as hair analysis, and the Linus Pauling Institute's funding comes mostly from Hoffmann-La Roche, the leading manufacturer of Vitamin C supplements. At least one orthomolecular therapy has been officially sanctioned within Japan, which has looser drug approval regulations than the United States Food & Drug Administration

Notable orthomolecular doctors

Orthomolecular scientists

Reference links

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Bibliography

  • Barrie R. Cassileth (1998) Alternative medicine handbook: the complete reference guide to alternative and complementary therapies. New York: W.W.Norton & Co., ISBN 0393045668
  • Abram Hoffer (1998) Putting It All Together: The New Orthomolecular Nutrition, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0879836334
  • Abram Hoffer, M.D. with Linus Pauling (2004) Healing Cancer: Complementary Vitamin & Drug Treatments, CCNM Press, ISBN 1897025114
  • Pauling, Linus (1986) How to Live Longer and Feel Better, W. H. Freeman and Company, ISBN 0-380-70289-4
  • Roger J. Williams, Dwight K. Kalita (1979) Physician's Handbook on Orthomolecular Medicine, Keats Publishing, ISBN 0879831995
  • Melvyn R. Werbach, Jeffrey Moss (1999) Textbook of Nutritional Medicine, Third Line Press, ISBN 0961855096
  • Joseph E. Pizzorno, Jr., Michael T. Murray (November 2005) Textbook of Natural Medicine, 3rd edition, Churchill Livingstone, ISBN 0443073007 · 2368pp

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