Vitamin D and Mental Health

"I've been wondering how vitamin D and mental illness are related,
so I did a search and found that vitamin D does, indeed, play a role in mental illness based on these reasons from the Vitamin D Council's website:

Epidemiological evidence shows an association between reduced sun exposure and mental illness.
Mental illness is associated with low 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels.
Mental illness shows a significant comorbidity with illnesses thought to be associated with vitamin D deficiency.
Theoretical models (in vitro or animal evidence) exist to explain how vitamin D deficiency may play a causative role in mental illness.
Studies indicate vitamin D improves mental illness."

From the Huffington Post.
Link

Global Alzheimer's Disease Charter

"We are facing a public health and social care emergency and immediate action is needed!

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia and accounts for 60-70% of all cases. Alzheimer's disease and other dementias are progressive, degenerative illnesses that attack the brain. They affect people's abilities, impacting on all aspects of their life and upon others in their lives, particularly those who care for them day by day.

Every year, 4.6 million new cases of dementia are reported worldwide: One new case every seven seconds. By 2050, it is projected that there will be 100 million people with dementia in the world. No country is adequately prepared to deal with a crisis of this magnitude.

Lack of awareness and understanding has resulted in insufficient resources to address this crisis. Worldwide, attention to this rapidly growing problem is so small that most of those affected continue to suffer without help, or hope. This must change! The quality of life of people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias can be transformed. Too often, they, their families and carers lack the support that they need and deserve.

We, the members of Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI), representing 77 associations around the world, urgently call upon all governments and stakeholders to act now."

Link to Petition

We couldn't agree more... but think that this unhappy state - of DEFICIENCY DISEASES - has arisen due to bad nutrition. Information about maintenance of brain health through proper eating and supplementation is important in prevention of Alzheimer's and the dementias, should begin in childhood and last all your life. A society that knows and cares more about what goes into pet food than human food - and lets its elders eat dog food - should be ashamed of itself.

WHAT REALLY CAUSES ALZHEIMER'S? We think Harold Foster has the answer and you can read his book free, here.

Eldercare in Canada: Dignity Denied

From the report:

"Older Canadians are not and must never be seen as a burden.
They worked hard to build Canada into the modern and compas-
sionate country that it is today. They survived the Great Depression
and many wore our country’s uniform during a world war. They
paid their fair share of taxes and they continue to do so. They are a
continuing source of wisdom, experience and talent.
In this paper we discuss the issues confronting (Long Term Care) in Canada,
including the lack of access to adequate and affordable care. We
speak to the stress endured by families that have to make diffi-
cult choices regarding their parents and grandparents. We also
consider the circumstances of the women and men who work in
LTC facilities, providing care to our nation’s seniors. Too often
those workers are undervalued, underpaid and burned out."


PDF

One result of lack of long term care for seniors can be dangerous - sometimes fatal: overmedication.
Toronto STAR: "Drugged-out seniors a prescription for disaster"
Link

Much of what is diagnosed as dementia may be the result of poor nutrition. This little guide to helping
dementia patients with some nutritional support is from the State of Wisconsin.

However, we would like to go further. We think that much dementia has roots in deficiencies in B12 and zinc, and that to restore and maintain neurological health over a lifetime, these and other nutrients - in the proper amounts and proper balance - need to be supplied.

More in-depth information on better lifelong brain health through nutrition can be seen at this PDF -
Harold Foster's writing on Alzheimer's
and at the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine here.

Even if you don't have an elderly relative or friend, please consider this information for your own sake - and keep the Reaper at bay.

Adelle Davis

We love Adelle Davis.



Daisie Adelle Davis (25 February 1904 - 31 May 1974), popularly known as Adelle Davis, was an American pioneer in the fledgling field of nutrition during the mid-20th century. She advocated whole unprocessed foods, criticized food additives, and claimed that dietary supplements and other nutrients play a dominant role maintaining health, preventing disease, and restoring health after the onset of disease:
"Research shows that diseases of almost every variety can be produced by an under-supply of various combinations of nutrients... [and] can be corrected when all nutrients are supplied, provided irreparable damage has not been done; and, still better, that these diseases can be prevented." [1]
Davis is best known as the author of a series of books published in the United States between 1947 and 1965. One of her books, Let's Have Healthy Children (Signet 1981, revised edition) states that Davis prepared individual diets for more than 20,000 people who came to her or were referred to her by physicians during her years as a consultant. She was also well known for her scathing criticism of the food industry in the United States. In the early 1970s, she addressed the ninth annual convention of the "International Association of Cancer Victims and Friends" at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. After citing U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics about tens of millions of people in the United States suffering from afflictions such as arthritis, allergies, heart disease, and cancer, she stated, "This is what's happening to us, to America, because there is a $125 billion food industry who cares nothing about health".
- From Wikipedia article and links about Adelle Davis

Visit the Adelle Davis Foundation - you will find a recipe on the ;landing page - here.

Stop Bill C-51 Campaign Revived

It's baaaaack...Canada's vitamin-banning Bill C-51 has been reworked as Bill C-6.


Stop Bill C-51 -- CODEX ALIMENTARIUS -- Call to Action from Anonymai on Vimeo.

Bill C-51: Will the US take over Canada through Vitamin Legislation?

Bill C–51 proposes re–labeling therapeutic products under the umbrella of prescription drugs. This new legislation would limit access to holistic products and impose rigorous approval tests upon alternative therapies already being safely used and sold in stores.
“Alarmingly, C–51 also allows federal enforcement agents to raid our homes or business without a warrant, seize bank accounts, levy fines of up to $5 million and enforce jail terms up to two years on anybody it determines has contravened the new Act,” reports the Peanut Mill.
“In effect, that could even be you giving your neighbour herbs from your backyard garden. Your access to products as benign as camomile or vitamin C could, in the current form of Bill C–51, become illegal.”
Early reports suggest that under Bill C–51, approximately three quarters of all natural health products on the market today would not be able to obtain license for sale and therefore disappear from the store shelves. Yearly fees to sell natural health products would put both manufacturers and distributors out of business.

Bill C-51 - why is there a Trojan Horse clause in a vitamin bill? Canadians do not need Vitamin N(AFTA).



For more information and excellent protest letter templates, go here.
Stop C51 - sign the petition here

Video: Biological Causes of Depression

Presents information on biological causes of depression, which can include adverse effects from antidepressants, and natural help with nutrition.

Vitamin Therapy: Niacin for Arthritis and More

Image from NLM/NIH.

Niacin - Vitamin B3 - can correct Pellagra, Schizophrenia, Arthritis and so much more.
Read about B3/Niacin therapy for arthritis at Dr. Andrew Saul's site.
Niacin can cause some unpleasant but harmless reactions, and before beginning to take it, you may wish to read
this article.
The Wikipedia article about Pellagra is here.
Tom Lehrer used Pellagra in a song, here

Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine now available online

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, February 29, 2008

JOURNAL OF ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE NOW ONLINE

(OMNS February 29, 2008) The archives of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine are now posted online. Past issues from 1967 through 2002 are available for downloading, at no charge, at http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/index.shtml

"36 years of important material is now freely available to everyone," said Steven J. Carter, Executive Director of the Toronto-based International Schizophrenia Foundation, which publishes the Journal.

The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine has led the way in presenting, in advance of other medical journals, new health concerns and treatments including niacin therapy for schizophrenia and coronary disease; vitamin C for cancer; and the nutritional treatment of behavioral disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse. The JOM was also the first medical journal to publish papers on the nutritional treatment of allergies, autism, and AIDS. JOM published pioneering research on candiasis in 1978, mercury amalgam toxicity in 1982, and chronic fatigue syndrome in 1988. The Journal has published over 100 papers on nutritional medicine and cancer, and over 400 articles on schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses. JOM is peer-reviewed.

The Journal was founded in 1967 as the Journal of Schizophrenia, and subsequently titled the Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry until 1986. Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling authored 9 papers in the Journal from 1970-1992. It was Pauling that gave nutritional medicine the name "orthomolecular." Says JOM Editor-in Chief Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD: "In 1968, Dr. Pauling proposed the term orthomolecular (1,2) which we recognized as the correct word to define the total interest in nutrition, clinical ecology, and the use of vitamin and mineral supplements. All the pioneers in orthomolecular medicine have reported their findings in this journal. It thus represents a unique source for these earlier and current studies which provide a basis for the increasing growth of nutritional medicine."

ONLINE, BUT NOT ON MEDLINE
Curiously, after over 40 years of continuous publication, JOM is still not indexed on MEDLINE. There are about 5,000 other journals indexed by the taxpayer-funded U.S. National Library of Medicine, and over 700 million MEDLINE searches each year. Not one of those searches found a single paper from the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. (3)

In 2006, Psychology Today wrote: "The National Library of Medicine refuses to index the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, though it is peer-reviewed and seems to meet their criteria." (4)

MEDLINE does, however, index material from Newsweek, Consumer Reports, Reader’s Digest and Time magazines.

Those who may feel think this is irregular may wish to contact the National Library of Medicine’s Deputy Director, Betsy L. Humphreys, at the National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 38, Room 2E17A, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894 or email betsy_humphreys@nlm.nih.gov or humphreb@mail.nlm.nih.gov

The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine archives, numbering over 600 papers, are posted and topic-searchable at http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/index.shtml

References:

(1) http://www.orthomed.org/pauling2.html ; http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/MM/B/B/J/Q/_/mmbbjq.pdf ; http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/MM/B/B/J/Q/
(2) http://www.orthomed.org/pauling.html
(3) http://www.doctoryourself.com/medlineup.html
(4) Psychology Today, Nov-Dec 2006. http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20061101-000002.html
http://psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=20061101-000002&page=4

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:

Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.
Damien Downing, M.D.
Harold D. Foster, Ph.D.
Steve Hickey, Ph.D.
Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.
Bo H. Jonsson, MD, PhD
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D.
Erik Paterson, M.D.

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org


To Subscribe at no charge: http://www.orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html

JOM is here