Orthomolecular medicine is an alternative approach, its name coined by chemist Linus Pauling in the late 1960s to mean the right molecules in the right amounts, that treats disease as reflecting deficiencies or imbalances in the body's nutritional environment, correcting them with vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids tailored to a patient's own biochemistry. It often employs megavitamin therapy, doses many times higher than recommended dietary intake, alongside dietary restrictions and sometimes pharmaceutical drugs based on an individual biochemical workup. Evidence-based medicine rejects the approach, and organizations including the American Cancer Society, American Psychiatric Association and American Medical Association have criticized its claims as unsupported, describing it as food faddism and quackery, with some evidence that high-dose vitamins may increase mortality risk.
Facts
FAQs
Does mainstream medicine accept orthomolecular medicine?
Mostly not; conventional practitioners reject most of its doctrines and its benefits and risks remain debated.
Mostly not. Many conventional health practitioners reject most of the doctrines of orthomolecular proponents, and there is considerable debate within the scientific community about the benefits and risks of the approach, which centers on high doses of vitamins and other nutrients. The approach is best read as a contested idea in the history of nutrition and medicine, not as medical advice.
Connections
Treats
Source Orthomolecular medicine (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
2. Orthomolecular medicine (Wikipedia)
History section
The word "orthomolecular" was coined by Linus Pauling in 1967.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine, lead section
Orthomolecular medicine is a form of alternative medicine that claims to maintain human health through nutritional supplementation.
Treats: Schizophrenia, Article text, use for
In the 1950s, he attempted to treat schizophrenia with niacin, although proponents of orthomolecular psychiatry say that the ideas behind their approach predate Hoffer.
In Group: Supplement and Nutrient Therapies, Introduction
Orthomolecular medicine is a form of alternative medicine that claims to maintain human health through nutritional supplementation.
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