HEADLINES / TRENDS l STATS l RESEARCH l MEDIA l PEOPLE

November / December 2009

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Abram Hoffer:
Using Vitamins to Heal the mind

Alternative medicine lost one of its leading innovators with the death of Abram Hoffer, MD at age 91 this past May. The Canadian psychiatrist was best known for using megadose vitamin regimens in the treatment of such mental ailments as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Hoffer, born on a Saskatchewan farm in 1917, went from attending a one-room schoolhouse to receiving a PhD from the University of Minnesota and a medical degree from the University of Toronto. In 1950 he became the director of psychiatric research for the Saskatchewan Department of Public Health and would become an associate professor of medicine at the province’s university.

At the time schizophrenia, a disorder marked by hallucinations and poor social functioning, was seen as a product of bad mothering. But Hoffer found that people who suffered from this disorder werre unable to clear adrenochrome, a toxic metabolism byproduct, from their brains, and thought that large doses of vitamin C and niacin might help. As a result Hoffer helped establish the idea that mental disease could have biochemical causes, a breakthrough for its time. He described his work
as “orthomolecular medicine,” a term borrowed from his friend and colleague Linus Pauling, meaning “the right molecules in the right amounts” (ortho is Greek for “right”).

Unfortunately for Hoffer, his research occured at just about the same time pharmaceutical agents were being hailed as the answer to mental illness. Hoffer believed that he and his nutrition-minded colleagues were being ignored by the psychiatric profession at large. To defend and explain his ideas he became an author, with more than 30 books to his credit in addition to scores of articles, and founded what would become the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. Eventually Hoffer resigned his administrative and academic positions to become a private practitioner in Victoria, British Columbia until he retired in 2005.

“Over the past 45 years I have seen thousands of mental patients recover using orthomolecular medicine even though they previously failed to recover using orthodox clinical treatments,” Hoffer once wrote. “It is important that we no longer deprive our psychiatric patients of their chance to get well.”

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Choline Linked With Lower
Anxiety Levels

Low levels of choline, a B vitamin needed to produce a key brain chemical, have been linked to increased rates of anxiety in a recent study.

Norwegian scientists looked at the health records of nearly 6,000 men and women who fell into two age groups, 46 to 49 and 70 to 74. The participants’ blood choline levels were noted, as were any anxiety or depression symptoms as measured by a standard mood scale. The lowest choline levels were found to be associated with the highest anxiety levels (no link was found between choline and depression).

According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, 40 million adults in the US suffer from anxiety disorders, which include generalized anxiety, panic attacks and post- traumatic stress.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 10/1/09

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His n’ Hers Health Checks at 50

Screening tests help give you a heads-up on potential health problems, especially after age 50. The following checklist is meant for healthy, nonsmoking men and women with no known risk factors; if you are at risk for a specific ailment, such as heart disease, discuss test scheduling with your practitioner. (For gender-specific nutrient recommendations, see “Nutrients for Men and Women.”)

Test	Frequency
Blood Pressure	Every 2 years
Cholesterol	Every 5 years (complete panel, including LDL, HDL, total cholesterol and triglyceride counts)
Colorectal Cancer	Baseline at 50, followups every 10 years for colonoscopy; discuss frequency for other tests with your practitioner
Dental Exam	Every 6 to 12 months
Eye Exam	Every 2 years
Liver Panel	Speak to your practitioner about whether and how often you should have your liver enzymes tested (risk factors include history of hepatitis infection, heavy alcohol usage)
Men: PSA (prostate specific antigen)	Speak to your practitioner about whether and how often you should have a PSA test (risk factors include African-American background, advancing age)
Women: Mammography*	Every 1 to 2 years
Pap Smear	Every 3 years

*Standard recommendation; if you’re concerned about radiation exposure, speak to your
practitioner about alternative screening methods, such as thermography and sonograms.

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Green Housekeeping

Everyone likes living in a clean space. However, standard household cleansers can contribute to pollution inside and outside of the home.

Jim Rimer used to sell standard cleaning products, but his concerns about their health effects led him to found Biokleen 20 years ago. Today the company’s wares are designed to be nontoxic and fully biodegradable—while still doing the job. Products include items for laundry, kitchen and general use, including a line of soy-based cleansers. Biokleen uses third-party verification for its ingredients and has an official Formulating Agreement with the EPA’s Design for the Environment.

Keeping a clean home shouldn’t be hazardous to your health. Biokleen can help make that task a little easier.

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Women:
Strong Thighs = Less Knee Pain

In “The Knee: An Owner’s Manual” (September), we learned that exercise is recommended
for keeping knees healthy, in part by strengthening the surrounding muscles. This idea has been bolstered by a study done at the University of Iowa and published in the September issue of Arthritis Care & Research. Researchers found a link between stronger thigh muscles, particularly the quadriceps in the front, and less knee pain in women.

More than 3,000 men and women between the ages of 50 and 79 took part in the study. In addition to undergoing tests for muscular strength, the participants also had their knees X-rayed and were asked about pain and stiffness.

After two and a half years 93 of 937 women developed arthritis as seen on X-ray. However, those with the strongest thighs were less likely to report arthritic knee pain regardless of what their X-rays looked like. The relationship between thigh strength and knee pain wasn’t that strong in men who developed arthritis.

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Calendar

December 6-12

NATIONAL HANDWASHING
AWARENESS wEEK

The Idea: To encourage everyone, especially children, to keep those hands clean during cold and flu season.

Sponsored By: Health buddy Henry the Hand, created by William Sawyer, MD, a family practitioner in Cincinnati, Ohio

Activities: Getting people to follow the Principles of Hand Awareness—wash your hands when they are dirty or before eating, do not sneeze or cough into your hands and do not put your fingers in your eyes, nose and mouth (the T Zone)—through videos, podcasts and handwashing, poster and jingle competitions.

Contact: www.henrythehand.com

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Quote

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures;
they give unconditional love.

For me they are the role model for being alive.
—Gilda Radner

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