Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine is a form of alternative medicine that claims to maintain human health through nutritional supplementation. The concept builds on the idea of an optimal nutritional environment in the body and suggests that diseases reflect deficiencies in this environment. Treatment for disease, according to this view, involves attempts to correct imbalances or deficiencies based on individual biochemistry by use of substances such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, trace elements and fatty acids.

The approach is sometimes referred to as megavitamin therapy, because its practice evolved out of, and in some cases still uses, doses of vitamins and minerals many times higher than the recommended dietary intake. Orthomolecular practitioners may also incorporate a variety of other styles of treatment into their approaches, including dietary restriction, megadoses of non-vitamin nutrients and mainstream pharmaceutical drugs. Proponents argue that non-optimal levels of certain substances can cause health issues beyond simple vitamin deficiency and see balancing these substances as an integral part of health.

American chemist Linus Pauling coined the term orthomolecular in the 1960s to mean the right molecules in the right amounts (ortho- in Greek implies correct). Proponents of orthomolecular medicine hold that treatment must be based on each patient's individual biochemistry.

Scope

According to Abram Hoffer, orthomolecular medicine does not purport to treat all diseases, nor is it a replacement for standard treatment. A proportion of patients will require orthodox treatment, a proportion will do much better on orthomolecular treatment, and the rest will need a skillful blend of both. Nevertheless, advocates have said that the right nutrients at the optimum dose for the individual concerned can prevent, treat, and sometimes cure a wide range of medical conditions. Conditions for which orthomolecular practitioners have claimed some efficacy are: acne, alcoholism, allergies, arthritis, autism, bee stings, bipolar disorder, burns, cancer, the common cold, depression, drug addiction, drug overdose, epilepsy, heart diseases, heavy metal toxicity, acute hepatitis, herpes, hyperactivity, hypertension, hypoglycemia, influenza, learning disabilities, mental and metabolic disorders, migraine, mononucleosis, mushroom poisoning, neuropathy & polyneuritis (including multiple sclerosis), osteoporosis, polio, a hypothesised condition called pyroluria, radiation sickness, Raynaud's disease, mental retardation, schizophrenia, shock, skin problems, snakebite, spider bite, tetanus toxin and viral pneumonia.

Principles

According to Abram Hoffer, primitive peoples do not consume processed foods and do not have degenerative diseases. In contrast, typical Western diets are said to be insufficient for long-term health, necessitating the use of megadose supplements of vitamins, dietary minerals, proteins, antioxidants, amino acids, ω-3 fatty acids, ω-6 fatty acids, medium-chain triglycerides, dietary fiber, short and long chain fatty acids, lipotropes, systemic and digestive enzymes, other digestive factors, and prohormones to ward off hypothetical metabolism anomalies at an early stage, before they cause disease.

Orthomolecularists say that they provide prescriptions for optimal amounts of micronutrients after individual diagnoses based on blood tests and personal histories. Lifestyle and diet changes may also be recommended. The battery of tests ordered includes many that are not considered useful by medicine.