Background
‘Orthomolecular’ medicine is a term coined by one of the greatest scientific minds of the 20th Century, twice Nobel Laureate, Linus Pauling.
Orthomolecular medicine involves the treatment of disease with natural substances, endemic to the body, vitamins, minerals, herbs and other biological response modifiers. These are often used in enormous doses, to a drug-like intensity. But as they are not drugs, toxicity is largely avoided, and the body can respond in a more positive way. (A classic example of orthomolecular medicine is the treatment of diabetes with insulin).
The practice of orthomolecular oncology was started over 30 years ago by a Canadian psychiatrist, Dr Abram Hoffer. Inspired by some encouraging results in his work with nutrition in schizophrenia, and wanting to do more than just give spiritual counsel to his terminal cancer patients, he began to prescribe large doses of vitamins and minerals for them.
To his surprise, these terminal cancer patients lived four times as long as expected, and a small percentage were cured. (1) In a Scottish study – the Vale of Leven Study, – inspired by Dr Pauling, similar results were produced with just 10 grams of vitamin C taken intravenously daily, after all conventional treatment had been abandoned. In this study 10% of terminal patients went into long lasting remission, and were alive up to 2.5 years after commencing the high dose vitamin C treatment at the time of the paper’s publication. Other notable benefits in other terminal cases in the trial included the rapid relief of pain obviating the need for opiates, as well as significantly extended survivals with renewed periods of well being before death.(2)
The Charity, Orthomolecular Oncology, is, both by name and definition, NOT a CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) charity.
Our charity’s work is focussed on education and research into the use of biological response modifiers that are ESSENTIAL to life. We have a long collaboration with Professor Mauro Perreti and colleagues at the Biochemical Pharmacology lab of the William Harvey Institute, Queen Mary College, London, a lab that is also focussed entirely on essential and endogenous / orthomolecular agents.
Examples of orthomolecular molecules and agents are:
Insulin, NAD+/nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide, cobalamin, all vitamins, all minerals, all bio-identical hormones, such as melatonin -the sleep hormone, pregnelonone, a precursor hormone, thyroid hormone, iodine, D-Ribose the sugar in DNA, ATP/adenosine triphosphate, ALA/alpha lipoic acid, COQ10, amino acids, mesenchymal stem cells…..
All such agents are subjects of interest and potential research for this charity.
An insufficiency of any of these can lead to serious illness and in many cases, death.
Life is impossible without any item on the list above.
- Hoffer A. & Pauling L: Hardin Jones biostatistical analysis of mortality data for cohorts of cancer patients with a large fraction surviving at the termination of study. Orthomolecular Medicine; 1990, 5: 143 – 154.
- Cameron E. & Campbell A: The orthomolecular treatment of cancer. II. Clinical trials of high dose ascorbic acid supplements in advanced human cancer. Chem. Biol. Interact; 1974,9: 285-315.