Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine involves the prescription of large doses of vitamins and minerals, based on the philosophy that each individual is biochemically unique and therefore nutritional deficiencies affect certain people more than others.
It describes the practice of preventing and treating disease by providing the body with optimal amounts of substances which are natural to the body.
The term 'orthomolecular' was first used by Linus Pauling in a paper he wrote in the journal Science in 1968. The key idea in orthomolecular medicine is that genetic factors affect not only the physical characteristics of individuals, but also to their biochemical milieu. Biochemical pathways of the body have significant genetic variability and diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, schizophrenia or depression are associated with specific biochemical abnormalities which are causal or contributing factors of the illness.