12 Facts About Orthomolecular medicine

Orthomolecular medicine is a form of alternative medicine that aims to maintain human health through nutritional supplementation.

The notions behind orthomolecular medicine are not supported by sound medical evidence, and the therapy is not effective for chronic disease prevention; even the validity of calling the orthomolecular approach a form of medicine has been questioned since the 1970s.

Proponents of orthomolecular medicine hold that treatment must be based on each patient's individual biochemistry.

Survey released in May, 2004 by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine focused on who used alternative Orthomolecular medicine, what was used, and why it was used in the United States by adults age 18 years and over during 2003.

Orthomolecular medicine therapies have been criticized as lacking a sufficient evidence base for clinical use: their scientific foundations are too weak, the studies that have been performed are too few and too open to interpretation, and reported positive findings in observational studies are contradicted by the results of more rigorous clinical trials.

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The lack of scientifically rigorous testing of orthomolecular medicine has led to its practices being classed with other forms of alternative medicine and regarded as unscientific.

Proponents of orthomolecular medicine contend that, unlike some other forms of alternative medicine such as homeopathy, their ideas are at least biologically based, do not involve magical thinking, and are capable of generating testable hypotheses.

Orthomolecular medicine is not a standard medical term, and clinical use of specific nutrients is considered a form of chemoprevention or chemotherapy.

Proponents of orthomolecular medicine counter that some vitamins and nutrients are now used in medicine as treatments for specific diseases, such as megadose niacin and fish oil for dyslipidemias, and megavitamin therapies for a group of rare inborn errors of metabolism.

Proponents of orthomolecular medicine argue that supplements are less likely to cause dangerous side-effects or harm, since they are normally present in the body.

Health professionals see orthomolecular medicine as encouraging individuals to dose themselves with large amounts of vitamins and other nutrients without conventional supervision, which they worry might be damaging to health.

Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, founded in 1967 as the Journal of Schizophrenia, is a major publication of orthomolecular medicine.