Orthomolecular medicine: the past and future of medicine

If  there was a simple and cost-effective way to avoid many illnesses and even cure them, it would be adopted widely by now, right? No, wrong.

Nobel Laureate Prof. Linus Pauling, considered by some as the father of modern chemistry and one of the top 20 scientists of all time, coined the term "orthomolecular medicine" to refer to the practice of treating diseases with molecules which are natural to the body. "Ortho" means correct or "right". Using insulin to control diabetes is one example of orthomolecular medicine. Preventing the flu by taking a Vitamin-D3 supplement is another example. These substances are natural to the body and hence are tolerated well without many side-effects. In contrast, "toximolecular medicine" uses molecules not natural to the body and hence tends to have more side-effects. A small bottle of aspirin taken at once can kill.

Clearly Allopathic medicine can be orthomolecular or toximolecular depending on the medicine prescribed. Similarly traditional herbal medicine can be orthomolecular or toximolecular depending on the molecules present in the herb prescribed.

It turns out that a number of diseases can be prevented and/or cured using Vitamins, amino-acids, and minerals which are found in food. The main reason for this is that moderate deficiencies of these nutrients leads to various diseases, and simply eliminating the deficiency gets rid of the diseases as well. Some examples follow.

1. Atherosclerosis is a disease caused due to narrowing and hardening of arteries which can lead to heart attacks. Dr. Broda Barnes, an expert on the thyroid, provides compelling evidence all the way from the 19th century that hypothyroidism is a major cause of atherosclerosis in his book "Solved: The Riddle of Heart Attacks". Supplementing with thyroid extracts reversed atherosclerosis in his patients. Incidentally, key nutrients for the thyroid such as Iodine and B-vitamins have been shown to reduce heart disease. A second cure for Atherosclerosis was invented by Linus Pauling and his associates shortly before he died. The cure is simply large doses of Vitamin C taken along with amino-acid Lysine (see Pauling Therapy), obviating the need for heart bypass surgery.
2. Ichthyosis Vulgaris is a skin ailment in which fishy scales form on the skin: Dr. Frederick Robert Klenner, whose pioneering work has led to his induction in the orthomolecular hall of fame, used a combination of Vitamin A (150,000-200,000 IU) and Vitamin C (10 grams) daily to control the symptoms of ichthyosis (see Significance of High Daily Intake of Ascorbic Acid in Preventive Medicine). See the article on use of cod-liver oil for skin ailments by the Weston Price foundation. As an aside, Vitamins A, D3, and K2 work best together, according to findings of Dr. Weston Price, in comparison with Vitamin A alone. 
3. Elevated cholesterol levels can cause atherosclerosis. Vitamin B3 (in the form of Niacin, not niacinamide) normalizes cholesterol levels. 
4. Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder. Vitamin B3 with a combination of other vitamins was used by another orthomolecular hall of fame member, Dr. Abram Hoffer. 
5. Colds, influenza, viral pneumonia and a host of other ailments were cured using Vitamin C (at levels close to bowel tolerance) by Dr. Robert Cathcart. 
6. Allergies cause release of inflammatory substances such as histamine. Certain vitamins act as anti-histamines. Vitamin B3 as Niacin causes release of histamine, Vitamin B3 as niacinamide inhibits the action of histamine, and Vitamin C annihilates histamine.

Significant advantages of Orthomolecular medicine over toximolecular medicine are:

1. Cost effectiveness: Vitamins, minerals, amino acids etc. are relatively inexpensive.
2. No side effects: Since orthomolecular medicines are natural to the human body, they have virtually no side effects when taken in small to optimal doses. Large overdoses, however, can have unwanted (mostly reversible) effects but these should not be termed "side-effects"; "overdose effects" is more appropriate. Toximolecular medicines, in contrast, can have side-effects when taken in small to optimal doses, and overdoses of them can kill. There have been no deaths due to vitamins in many years  unlike toximolecular medicine deaths which outnumber traffic fatalities in the US. 
3. Preventive use: Orthomolecular medicines can (and should preferably) be used to prevent illness. Toximolecular medicines are not suitable for prevention due to their unwanted side effects. Dr. Abram Hoffer relates about the classic meeting of two great minds Irwin Stone and Linus Pauling: "Irwin heard Dr. Pauling state that he wished he could live another 25 years because science was making so many interesting discoveries. Dr. Stone wrote to him and told him he could achieve his goal if he would take vitamin C in megadoses. Dr. Pauling tried it out, was convinced because he felt so much better, and lived another 30 years." Pauling lived till the ripe old age of 93. 

So why is orthomolecular medicine not widely practiced and instead falsely dubbed as an "alternative medicine" by some? Some of the reasons are as follows (see Orthomolecular Medicine for Everyone by Dr. A. Hoffer and Dr. A. Saul)

1. Ignorance: Nutrition is not given much emphasis in medical school. Hence physicians do not know enough about Vitamins etc. and their ability to cure diseases. Nutrition is left to the dieticians and nutritionists.
2. Bias: The belief that Vitamins are "just vitamins" and are meant to only prevent pre-mortal diseases such as scurvy, pellagra, and beri-beri has stuck. Linus Pauling writes in the forward of the book "The heart and Vitamin E" (1985): "The failure of the medical establishment during the last forty years to recognize the value of Vitamin E in controlling heart disease is responsible for a tremendous amount of unnecessary suffering and for many early deaths. The interesting story of the efforts to suppress the Shute discoveries about Vitamin E illustrates the shocking bias of organized medicine against nutritional measures for achieving improved health."
3. Disruptive idea: Healthcare is unfortunately largely a "sickness care" industry using toximolecular medicines instead of being a "preventive healthcare" industry using orthomolecular medicines. By bringing down the cost of treating disease and even preventing them, orthomolecular medicine will disrupt the entire "sickness care" medical industry which is worth trillions of dollars. Hence those potentially affected have an incentive to prevent it from gaining acceptance.

Past and Future:  Orthomolecular medicine is not new. Using particular foods to prevent and cure disease is as old as the hills. In India, the Amla gooseberry has long been touted as a health superfood which gives long life. It turns out that Amla is very high in Vitamin C (100 - 300mg per gooseberry). Irwin Stone and Linus Pauling were only stating in modern terms what was known for ages in India. My prediction is that despite stiff opposition from vested interests, orthomolecular medicine will in the future gain wide acceptance, because of the Internet and the inexpensive availability of Vitamins and other orthomolecular medicines.

Anyone who wants to learn more about Orthomolecular medicine should study the works of the Issac Newton of Nutrition, Dr. Weston A. Price, whom I describe in the next blog "The heavy price to pay for ignoring Weston Price". 

DISCLAIMER: The content on this website is intended for informational, and educational purposes only and not as a substitute for the medical advice, treatment or diagnosis of a licensed health professional. The author of this blog is  not a health professional, and shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive or other damages arising from any use of the content of this website.

The heavy price to pay for ignoring Weston A. Price

"IF PRIMITIVE races have been more efficient than modernized groups in the matter of preventing degenerative processes, physical, mental and moral, it is only because they have been more efficient in complying with Nature's laws." (Weston A. Price, Ch. 15 of "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration")

Dr. Weston Price (1870-1948) was a  dentist of repute and was chairman of the National Dental Association in the U.S.A. for many years.  He studied the diets and physical well-being of communities around the globe (all continents besides Antarctica) which were isolated geographically from "modern civilization" and compared them to those of nearby communities of the same racial groups whose diets had been corrupted by modern sugary foods, white flour, polished rice etc. His findings shocked me the first time I read them, and will likely have the same effect on you the first time you hear them.

In his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, a classic available for free online, he describes the food habits and physiques of communities in Switzerland and Scotland, the Eskimos, Native American tribes, groups descended from the Incas in South America, Masai and other tribes in Africa, Polynesians in Asia, Aborigines and Maoris in Australia-New Zealand and other groups.

His main findings about groups which stuck to their ancestral diets are as follows.

1. Superb physiques: Robust bodies, tremendous stamina, ability to withstand adverse weather conditions. Price mentions the case of a 60 year old grandmother carrying heavy loads up a hill in Alpine territory.
2. Perfect dental arches: Crooked teeth were a rarity. The skeletons of their ancestors too showed perfect dental arches. The lower half of the face was broad, leaving enough space for the teeth to be well-formed.
3. Absence of tooth decay: Almost no tooth was affected by dental caries.
4. High degree of immunity from disease: Tuberculosis and other infectious diseases were a rarity.
5. Broad nostrils: These allowed individuals to breathe easily through their noses even in frigid weather conditions.
6. Absence of mental problems and criminal behavior: Individuals lived upright moral lives, and petty criminal behavior was not to be found. There was no need for mental asylums. These people were aware that if they didn't eat properly, they would manifest mental and criminal behavior.

In contrast, those groups of the same racial stock who lived nearby and whose diets had been contaminated by modern civilization displayed the following characteristics. It took only one generation for these characteristics to show up.

1.  Weak physiques: A classic comparison of two brothers, one who stuck to his ancestral diet and the other who loved sugary foods is shown here. The latter struggled to get out of bed each day unlike his brother.
2. Crooked teeth: The lower half of the face was in general narrower. Hence the permanent teeth were out-of-place and crooked.
3. Plenty of tooth decay: The same figure mentioned above captures this fact. Many Polynesians with tooth decay were driven to suicide by the pain because there was no dentist nearby to attend to them.
4. Weak immune systems: Tuberculosis took a heavy toll on these populations.
5. Pinched noses: Their nostrils were narrower. As a result in colder climates several were "mouth breathers".

Now, quite unfortunately, most of us "moderns" have characteristics of the latter groups of people. We have paid a heavy price for ignoring Price. We have crooked teeth and need braces to get them in place.  Pinched noses are not considered abnormal. Carrying heavy loads up a tall mountain is unthinkable at any age, forget age 60+. Our immune systems are very weak. We would probably be dead without antibiotics. Mental disease and criminal behavior abound.

So what has gone wrong and what can be done about it? Here are some key points I have gleaned so far.

Characteristics of the "primitive" diet:

1. High vitamin diet: The "primitive" diet was universally high in vitamin content. Price reports that the fat-soluble vitamins were at least 10 times higher than the minimum requirement specified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor. Moreover, by eating whole grains their diets were rich in water-soluble vitamins. 
2. High in fiber: Whole grains are high in their fiber content.
3. High in minerals: Mineral content ranged from 1 to 50 times that specified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
4. Absence of sugar and processed food: Their food was whole and fresh, with none of the shortcomings of the processed food of modern diets.

 Characteristics of the "modern" diet:

1. Low vitamin content
2. Low fiber
3. Low minerals
4. High in sugar and processed food

Why are we okay with such a poor diet? According to Price, humans do not have the ability to feel hunger for various nutrients and instead only feel hunger for "energy". Hence we are satisfied as long as our food provides the energy our bodies need.

How did the groups studied discover what was best to eat then? Price does not discuss this, but we can speculate how. In a world without modern dentistry and medicine, the price to pay for a poor diet was death, because of infections, adverse weather, wild animals, stronger human enemies etc. Their ancestors probably learned what best to eat the hard way: by finding foods that gave strength, vitality, immunity, longevity, mental health, and intelligence.

The dangers of Sugar:  We leave the importance of vitamins, fiber, and minerals for another discussion, but it is pertinent that we discuss sugar here. Interestingly Price mentions "sugary foods" as one of the culprits. Although Price correctly identified sugary foods as a problem, he probably had no idea how bad sugar really was.
Recent research has revealed that sugar in large quantities is so bad that some think it should be bracketed with tobacco. There was a time when people happily puffed on their cigars and cigarettes without knowing the dangers of tobacco. Now, people are wiser, and aware of its addictiveness and its being a leading cause for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer. However, most people are still clueless about how dangerous sugar is. In the long term, sugar causes diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. In the short term too sugar causes serious harm, altering the brain's chemistry thereby causing behavior changes and even other addictions (including alcohol and sexual addictions). Noted health expert, Dr. Mercola lists 76 ways sugar can ruin your health.


How should we change our diets? Obviously, we need to correct our diets to make them similar to those of the primitive groups studied by Weston Price. This is exactly what an Orthomolecular Diet refers to, which we discuss in another blog: "The orthomolecular diet: eating like our  ancestors did".

DISCLAIMER: The content on this website is intended for informational, and educational purposes only and not as a substitute for the medical advice, treatment or diagnosis of a licensed health professional. The author of this blog is  not a health professional, and shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive or other damages arising from any use of the content of this website.

The Orthomolecular Diet: Eating Like Our Ancestors Did

What is an orthomolecular diet?

Any orthomolecular diet tries to capture the food and eating habits of our ancestors who over the generations learned what was best to eat. Groups of extant people who ate their ancestral food have been described in an earlier blog on Weston Price.

Characteristics of an orthomolecular diet are (see Orthomolecular Medicine for Everyone by Hoffer and Saul):

1. Whole foods: grains, milk, fruit, and vegetables must be whole.
2. High vitamin content: Vitamin content must be several times that specified by typical recommended daily allowances (RDA). This can be obtained from animal fats, animal organs, whole milk from green-grass fed animals, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
3. High fiber content: Whole grains and vegetables naturally have high fiber content.
4. High mineral content: whole grains and vegetables are naturally high in mineral content.
5. Several small meals: Our ancestors foraged for food and thereby likely ate several meals a day.
6. Fresh food: food kept for long can lose its nutritional value, and even become toxic.
7. Locally sourced: There is no universal orthomolecular diet. An Eskimo orthomolecular diet may be unsuitable for those living on the equator. 
8. Sugar free and processed food free: Our ancestors were lucky not to eat modern sugary and processed foods. 
9. Allergen free: We must avoid foods we are allergic to.
10. Plenty of Vitamin D3: In case we don't get plenty of Vitamin D3 from skin exposure to sunlight daily, we have to compensate by eating Vitamin D rich foods. As an aside, 70% of people in India are Vitamin D deficient in India which has plenty of sunlight.

 It may turn out that despite serious efforts to follow an orthomolecular diet one may still fall short of vitamins and minerals. This is because our eating habits are so far from those of our ancestors that we need to make non-trivial changes to our diets to eat like them. Weston Price mentions that the groups he studied ate 10 times the amount of fat-soluble vitamins than the typical (US) diet of his time. To get 2 grams of Vitamin C, which is at the lower end of the daily intake recommended by Linus Pauling, one would have to eat 20 Indian gooseberries (Amla) or 40 oranges.

Linus Pauling recommended the use of Vitamin supplements to fill the gap between what we eat and what we need. Supplements are not as good as eating food high in vitamins and minerals. However, they are next best. Moreover, supplements are fairly inexpensive. Pauling suggested that people use low-cost individual vitamins instead of expensive multivitamins.

How to determine a good orthomolecular diet?

1. Eliminate sugar, polished rice, and white flour
2. Eliminate all food we are allergic to: A skin-prick test or an elimination diet can help identify what we are allergic to.
3. Introduce whole grains, plenty of vegetables and fruit: These can give you a good deal of water soluble vitamins (B and C). You can find a list of micronutrients and foods high in them on the website of the Linus Pauling foundation.
4. Eat animal fats and organ meats: These are high in vitamins. For example, liver contains high amounts of Vitamin A, several B vitamins, Vitamin C, and iron.
5. Drink whole milk from animals fed green grass: Such milk contains a substance key for cardiovascular health, healthy teeth etc. which was termed Activator-X  by Dr. Weston Price. Activator-X is now thought to be Vitamin K2.
6. Supplement with Vitamins and minerals if necessary: See if you are getting the vitamins and minerals in quantities recommended by orthomolecular experts. For more details on such recommendations, see my next blog titled Vitamin Popper or Vitamin Pauper.

DISCLAIMER: The content on this website is intended for informational, and educational purposes only and not as a substitute for the medical advice, treatment or diagnosis of a licensed health professional. The author of this blog is  not a health professional, and shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive or other damages arising from any use of the content of this website.

Vitamin Popper or Vitamin Pauper

People who follow the advice of giants of orthomolecular medicine like Prof. Roger Williams, Dr. Abram Hoffer, and Prof. Linus Pauling, inevitably end up "popping" pills of several different nutritional supplements every day. However, far from being "Vitamin poppers", they are just trying not to be  "Vitamin paupers", that is, people who are very nutritionally deficient.  Incidentally all three giants just mentioned lived past the age of 90; Williams till 94, Hoffer till 91, and Pauling till 93!

Now it might seem odd that one should need nutritional supplements everyday. Shouldn't one get all required nutrition from food? After all, we have not evolved from creatures that took supplements everyday. The "madness" of vitamin popping makes more sense when we keep in mind the following facts (see Orthomolecular Medicine for Everyone by Dr. A. Hoffer and Dr. A. Saul)

1. Modern foods are terribly nutritionally deficient: Foods are nowadays processed to increase their shelf life. This means that the foods are made unpalatable for other creatures which might feast on our food before its time for us to eat it. Unfortunately, this is done by depleting foods of important vitamins, minerals, and fiber (for example by milling grain), thereby making the food unpalatable for us too! Humans have lost the instinct to sense the presence or absence of particular nutrients in food, and only sense the need for energy. As a result, most of us are clueless about how nutritionally deficient a lot of foodstuffs are.
2. The RDAs were designed to prevent severe deficiencies, not moderate ones: Many of the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) for vitamins and minerals were originally set only to prevent diseases such as scurvy, beri-beri, pellagra, goiter, rickets etc. which are caused by severe deficiencies of different nutrients. RDAs do not represent optimal doses of nutrients for anyone, and are often insufficient to prevent diseases caused by moderate deficiencies. The optimal doses of nutrients can be orders of magnitude higher than the RDA for some people. Note that moderate deficiencies can over a long period of time cause diseases as bad as or even worse than those caused by severe deficiencies. For example, while it is well-known that severe iodine deficiency causes cretinism and goiter, most people are unaware that moderate iodine deficiency can cause breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers.
3. The nutritional needs of different people are very different: Because humans are so biochemically different, each person has a different nutritional requirement. Hence food consumed by a family may provide all the nutrition for some members while leaving others deficient. Hence the optimum dose of any nutrient will lie in a range, and a single number such as an RDA makes little sense. See The World Within You by Roger Williams, the person who discovered Vitamin B5, for an excellent exposition of this point.
4. Nutrients work together:  A crude analogy for nutrients are the tyres of a car. A car moves smoothly only if all tyres have the right pressure. Any single tyre with low pressure is no good. Similarly, ALL nutrients must be consumed in optimal amounts because they work together in the body.
5. Certain nutrients are very difficult to find even in whole foods:  Nutrients such as Iodine and Vitamin E are not present in amounts close to the optimal needed even in whole foods. Iodine is present in good amounts in seaweed, but seaweed is not part of most diets.

Vitamin poppers are only trying to bridge the gap between their optimum and actual nutrient intake by taking supplements. Erring on the higher side is better than erring on the lower side.

So how does one find out what are the optimum levels of nutrients for one's body? Here are some ways to approach the problem.

1. For every particular nutrient, consult its expert: I define an expert as someone (i) who has done research on a particular nutrient (as reflected by peer-reviewed publications), (ii) is aware of the large body of nutritional research conducted since the early 20th century (or even 19th century) on that nutrient, (iii) has successfully treated people for diseases using that nutrient. Examples are Linus Pauling for Vitamin C, Abram Hoffer for Vitamin B3, and Guy Abraham for Iodine. Fred Klenner was one of the first multi-nutrient expert. In my opinion, being a great doctor, or famous nutritionist does not automatically make one an expert on all nutrients.
2. Titrate to cure ill health: Experts will give you a range in which an optimal dose for a nutrient is likely to lie in. The range does not tell you exactly what your optimal dose is. One can find out the optimal amount for some nutrients via titration. Titration involves starting from a low dose of medicine and increasing it till some form of ill health disappears. This ill health need not be a full-blown disease, and can include things such as unnatural fatigue, a foggy brain etc. So if nutrient X is known to cure disease Y, one can start with a low dose of X and gradually increase it till Y shown signs of getting cured. This increase can  happen over several days or even during a single day in some cases. See the article How to Determine a Therapeutic Dose of Vitamin C by Robert Cathcart for how to determine one's optimal Vitamin C dose.

Below are some suggested daily doses of nutrients for a normal healthy person. Note that sick people may need higher doses of some nutrients to cure certain diseases.

Nutrient	Linus Pauling	IVSRP	Miscel.	RDA	Remarks
Vitamin A	20,000-40,000IU			3,000 IU	See Vitamin A Saga by the Weston Price Foundation to learn how Vitamin A has been "attacked" since the mid-1990s.
Vitamin B1	50-100mg	25mg		1.2mg
Vitamin B2	50-100mg	25mg		1.3mg
Vitamin B3	300-600mg	300mg		16mg
Vitamin B5	100-200mg			5mg
Vitamin B6	50-100mg	25mg		1.3mg
Folic Acid	400-800mcg	2,000mcg		400mcg
Vitamin B12	100-200mcg	500mcg		2.4mcg
Vitamin C	6,000-18,000mg	2,000 mg		90mg	80-90% of the bowel tolerance level is considered optimal. This level varies from person to person and also over time. For intravenous use of Vitamin C  see Dr. Fred Klenner's Vitamin C paper
Vitamin D3	800 IU	1,500 IU	5,000 IU (Vitamin D council)	600 IU	Considerable Vitamin D research has been performed after Pauling's death which explains why his recommendation is lower than the Vitamin D council's recommendation.
Vitamin E	800 IU	200 IU		33 IU
Vitamin K	-			120 IU	Vitamin K2 is important for heart, dental, bone, and brain health. It is the elusive Activator-X identified by Dr. Weston Price.
Zinc	-	25mg		11mg
Magnesium	-	500mg		400mg
Selenium	-	200mcg		55mcg
Chromium	-	200mcg		35mcg
Iodine	-	-	12.5-37.5 mg (Dr. Guy Abraham)	150mcg	The importance of Iodine has been rediscovered only from 2005 onwards by Dr. Guy Abraham and others. Iodine present in seaweed consumed in Japan may indeed explain the longevity of the Japanese. See David Brownstein's Iodine : Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It

Remarks:

• IVSRP stands for the Independent Vitamin Safety Review Panel comprising of well-known orthomolecular physicians.
• mcg stands for microgram, and mg for milligram
• IU stands for International Unit
• RDA stands for Recommended Dietary Allowances set by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences

DISCLAIMER: The content on this website is intended for informational, and educational purposes only and not as a substitute for the medical advice, treatment or diagnosis of a licensed health professional. The author of this blog is  not a health professional, and shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive or other damages arising from any use of the content of this website.