Most vitamins were found, described and synthesized in the first part of the 20th century. In the sixties, biochemist and psychiatrist Dr. Abram Hoffer theorized – and proved in practice – that He founded the Journal of Schizophrenia, later renamed Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine.
Ortho means “right”, so the term orthomolecular means to set things straight on a molecular level. Basic tenets of orthomolecular medicine are: – the use of substances natural to the human body, such as vitamins or other nutrients; – often at high dosages – in order to rectify a health issue. This turned out to be one of the most influential ideas in holistic medicine.
Over the past decades, tens of thousands of scientific studies have been published in this field. Two time Nobel Prize laureate Linus Pauling was an especially fervent supporter of orthomolecular medicine and in his book “Cancer and Vitamin C” described how substantially the lives of cancer patients were prolonged when vitamin C was administered intravenously in high dosages. The benefits of orthomolecular medicine are hard to deny, due to the massive amounts of scientific work that has been put into the research. One especially desirable aspect of orthomolecular medicine is that, because the treatment is undertaken with substances natural to the human body, there are generally extremely few negative effects, and at the same time there may be substantial “positive side effects”, i.e. other beneficial effects that have nothing to do with the condition that is being treated. Despite that, orthodox medicine has hardly incorporated this vast body of research into its standard protocols.
Natural medicine has taken on board the wealth of scientific evidence available. At True Medicine, our qualified Integrative Medicine Naturopath is able to not only assess your body’s needs but also to provide quality products to help achieve the desired outcomes. Call for an appointment on 07 5530 1863.
Note: Never self-prescribe or order supplements on line. Only Australian TGA-approved products are recommended.