The Blood and Schizophrenia

"Although the brain represents only 6 percent of body weight, it consumes between a quarter and a third of the body's oxygen and blood sugar. A very metabolically hungry organ, the brain is fueled by blood sugar, glucose. It converts sugar into energy through the Krebs cycle in the mitochondria, then through the electron transport chain, eventually producing high energy-carrying intermediates such as ADP and NADPH."  Jeffrey S. Bland, Ph.D.

The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine Vol. 9, No.3, 1994

"...it takes much more than logic and clear-cut demonstrations to overcome the inertia and dogma of established thought." - Irving Stone

"The methods principally used now for treating patients with mental disease are psychotherapy (psychoanalysis and related efforts to provide insight and to decrease environmental stress), chemotherapy (mainly with the use of powerful synthetic drugs, such as chlorpromazine, or powerful natural products from plants, such as reserpine), and convulsive shock therapy (electroconvulsive therapy, insulin coma therapy, pentylenetetrazol shock therapy). I have reached the conclusion that another general method of treatment, which may be called orthomolecular therapy, may be found to be of great value, and may turn out to be the best method of treatment for many patients." - Linus Pauling, Science, April 19, 1968, p. 265

Introduction

  Various abnormalities have been described in the blood of schizophrenics. Hoffer feels that there is a toxic factor in the blood. He was not satisfied with ECT nor insulin coma treatment, which has now been abandoned as too dangerous. Patients died from this treatment, which was first heralded as a miracle cure.

"We deduced from our biochemical theories that large doses of vitamin B-3 and vitamin C might be therapeutic. We obtained a large supply of pure crystalline niacin, niacinamide, ascorbic acid and riboflavin. Our first patient Ken was a catatonic schizophrenic in the mental hospital run by Dr. Osmond. He had had insulin coma and also ECT and had been left in a coma and was dying. We decided that he must be our first patient to be given niacin and hoped he would not be our first victim. We used a stomach tube and gave him a large dose of niacin and ascorbic acid. He survived. The next day he sat up and drank it and thirty days later he was well. He was discharged and remained well. We were very fortunate. It is essential that the first patient one treats with any new treatment responds and he did. We then knew that we had something but our conviction was not great. After six double blinds, thousands of patients I have treated since then, and dozens of open clinical studies, I am convinced that what I saw in 1952 did represent a new way of treating these patients." Dr. Abram Hoffer

  This quote is from his autobiography, which is available for free on the website orthomolecular.org.

Pauling

  Pauling felt that the primary imbalances were concentrated in the brain, making them difficult to detect in the blood. This was not completely different from Hoffer's view, but Hoffer felt that people should try to detect them in the blood anyway.

"Professor Pauling as always is ahead of his time. The latest research on vitamin C substantiates his twenty-five years of advocacy and investigation on the benefits of vitamin C." J. Daniel Kanofsky, MD, MPH, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

  Pauling felt that there was a deficiency of vitamin C in schizophrenia. This may be true, but this may be a side effect of the disease or of the medication.

Osmond

"Dr. Humphry Osmond joined us from England. He was a refugee from the stiff conservative research intellectual attitude of academic psychiatry in England. He and John Smythies had formulated their M hypothesis of schizophrenia which was that it was possible that in the body of these patients there was a chemical with the psychological properties of mescaline and somehow related to adrenaline. Osmond brought this idea to us in Saskatchewan in the fall of 1951, and to me it made a tremendous amount of good sense. It gave us a map to follow in pursuit to the elusive schizophrenic toxin. I was Director of Psychiatric Research and was given full control." Dr. Abram Hoffer

  This quote is from Hoffer's 2008 autobiography, which is on the website orthomolecular.org. This is a nonprofit website, and they have never questioned my quoting from them. The idea of that website is to promote orthomolecular psychiatry, which is also what I am doing.

  Unfortunately Osmond, like Pauling, is now deceased. Smythies and Hoffer are still alive but old. Hoffer is in Canada. Hoffer is the editor of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine.

A Blood Test for Schizophrenia

  A number of brilliant scientists have claimed to have devoped blood tests for schizophrenia. Dr. Mesa Castillo is one who is till alive. Castillo is from Havana, Cuba. Unfortunately his work has been largely ignored in the US except for by myself and by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey. Mesa Castillo's test involves the microscopic examination of the blood platelets. "Giant" platelets are seen in schizophrenia. The have "elephant feet" (pseudopodia). The pseudopodia help the platelets move around, much like similar parts help the amoeba move around.

  The fact that the test involves the platelets, not the red cells, may not be a coincidence. The red cells carry oxygen, which the platelets do not carry. If oxygen destroys the unknown toxic factor, then a test with the red cells would be difficult. However, the Russians have indeed claimed tests with the red cells. Novitskii and co-workers of Siberia claimed hemolysis and spherical cells (erthyrocytes) in schizophrenia. Moscow workers also reported hemolysis as did Detroit workers (Frohman & Gottlieb).

  The Detroit workers claimed that tryptophan was flooding the red blood cells in their assay. This brilliant finding has been largely ignored except in Russia, where it was confirmed.

Conclusions

  Although Mesa Castillo did brilliant work, I feel that he misinterpreted his work. He felt that the unknown toxic factor in the blood was a virus. The Detroit workers felt that it was a metabolic toxin. I agree with the Detroit workers. Mesa Castillo is still doing work, but the Detroit workers are deceased or retired.

  My own ambition is to carry on the Detroit work by experimenting with a low tryptophan diet. For some reason the Detroit workers never thought of this, or else they thought it was too dangerous. I have not had any bad side effects so far, perhaps because I take vitamin supplements. Niacin can be made from tryptophan.

Bibliography

1. www.associatedcontent.com/article/782431/conquering_schizophrenia.html
2. www.associatedcontent.com/article/778443/super_nutrition.html

3. www.associatedcontent.com/article/772715/foods_that_heal_and_foods_that_harm.html

4. www.associatedcontent.com/article/769443/a_brief_history_of_schizophrenia_research.html

5. Hoffer A. Letter to Editor. (Rebuttal of attack on Linus Pauling) Nutrition Today 6:34-35, 1971.

6. Hoffer A. Orthomolecular treatment of schizophrenia. Orthomolecular Psychiatry 1:46-55, 1972.