ISBN 0-915962-02-0 Larchmont Books $1.95 THE FIRST COMPLETE BOOK EVER WRITTEN ABOUT THE AMAZING B VITAMINS AND HOW THEY FIGHT PHYSICAL ILLS, MENTAL ILLNESS, DEPRESSION AND THE STRESSES OF MODERN LIFE. BODI HNDanrf theB nanus RUTH ADAMS & FRANK MURRAY FOREWORD BY ABRAM HOFFER, M.D., PH.D. NEW EXPANDED EDITION OVER 200,000 COPIES IN PRINT! Body, Mind and the B Vitamins by Ruth Adams and Frank Murray Larchmont Books NEW YORK NOTICE: Thisbook ismeantasan informationalguideforthepreven- tion ofdisease. Forconditionsofill-health, werecommendthatyousee aphysician, psychiatrist, or otherprofessional licensed to treat disease. These days many medical practitioners are discovering that a strong nutritionalprogram supports andfortifies whatever therapy they may use, aswellaseffectivelypreventingarecurrenceoftheillness. SixthPrinting:March 1979 FifthPrinting:November1977 FourthPrinting:November1976 ThirdPrinting: June 1975 SecondPrinting: June 1973 FirstPrinting: June 1972 ISBN0-915962-02-0 BODY, MINDANDTHEB VITAMINS Copyright © 1972 byLarchmontBooks Allrightsreserved. Nopart ofthisbookmaybereproduced withoutpermission in writing from thepublishers. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. LARCHMONTBOOKS 6East43rdStreet New York, NY. 10017 Contents Foreword 5 Understanding the B ComplexofVitamins 18 .. Thiamine 36 Riboflavin 52 Niacin 62 Niacin and Mental Illnesses 73 Alcoholism and The B Complex 99 Pyridoxine 118 Pantothenic Acid 141 Biotin 153 Folic Acid 161 Vitamin B12 176 Choline 190 Inositol 198 , Para-amino-benzoic Acid 203 More Important Research with The B Complex 211 Recent News Aboutthe B Vitamins 232 Folic Acid Prevents Anemia 279 Some Incidental Notes on B Vitamins 286 Bibliography 290 Food Charts 292 Index 304 3 Foreword Twenty years ago only the most foolhardy psy- chiatrists would have considered that nutrition, except possibly for starvation, played any sig- nificant roles in the etiology and treatment of mental diseases. These concepts were novel to the field of general medicine, and, even today, there are very few medical colleges where ade- quate courses on nutrition and its clinical appli- cations are taught. Dr. Jean Mayer has recently stated that the average physician knows about as much as his secretary, and that if she is overweight she probablyknows somewhat more. In the field of psychiatry, psychoanalysis had just completed its take-over of the American Psychiatric Association, it was beginning to complete its sweep of University Departments of Psychiatry, which succumbed a little later, and it had initiated take-over of the editor- ships of the psychiatric journals. Psychoanalysis had absolutely no use for the field of nutrition, nor did it even consider that patients had a body. In fact, about twenty years ago Dr. Man- fred Bleuler, son of the famous Eugene Bleuler, 5 Body, Mind, and the B Vitamins forecast that in the foreseeable future no further biochemical research into the etiology of schizo- phrenia would be done. I am certain that he would have made the same statement about nutritional research playing any useful role in psychiatry. However, today the situation is different. Psy- chiatrists no longer deny the biochemical basis of schizophrenia, even if they only pay lip serv- ice to this idea. The recent formation of the Academy of Orthomolecular Psychiatry, which held its first annual scientific meeting in Dallas, Texas in 1972, foreshadows what will be the future role of nutrition in the general field of psychiatry and, hopefully, in medicine. It is clear that at last the total environment, not only the psychosocial but also the nutritional en- vironment, is beginning to be examined in its proper context. This change in opinion closely parallels my own personal experience with psychiatry. I had started out as a Ph.D. in biochemistry, but, in my first year of psychiatry, I was very interested My in psychoanalytic theory. treatment at that time was directed toward psychodynamic psy- chotherapy, including individual psychotherapy, psychodrama and group psychotherapy. For the my my next ten years of life as a psychiatrist, orientation swung over very markedly toward a broad genetic biochemical point of view, but Foreword only in the past ten years have I begun to give proper consideration to the vast importance of nutritional factors. my At present it is conclusion that if every general practitioner who refers patients to me were to practice the principles of orthomole- cular psychiatry; that is, the proper incorpora- tion of nutritional theory and practice into psychiatric treatment, I would immediately lose 85% of my practice. It sometimes appears to me that I am no longer practicing psychiatry as it is practiced by the majority of psychiatrists, but have become an internist specializing in nutri- tional medicine with a special skill in psychiatry. It is interesting to speculate on the factors which have led to this great transformation which has affected a small number of psychia- trists and which will undoubtedly affect the ma- jority over the next two decades. Biochemical nutritionists were very helpful, e.g. Adelle Davis and Dr. Carlton Fredericks, who have done a good deal to popularize the importance of ade- quate nutrition to the public. Dr. John Yudkin has done a good deal of work relating the patho- logical effect of modern diet to its sucrose con- tent. There is no doubt that a good deal of malnutrition is produced by the excessive con- sumption of sucrose, which not only imbalances the ratio between carbohydrates, protein and fats, but also deprives the patient of essential 7 Body, Mind, and the B Vitamins vitamins and minerals. It does not carry within itself its proper quota of these essential nutri- ents. Professor Roger Williams, discoverer of J. pantothenic acid and other vitamins, has pio- neered the concept that individuals are bio- chemically different and that this must be taken into account in the treatment of patients. He has pointed out that chemicals which are ingested into the body become part of the internal en- vironment of the cells. Each person has his own optimum internal environment and he must be aware of what this is wherever possible, and ap- ply the proper nutritional knowledge to main- tain optimum stability. Professor Linus Pauling has provided a theo- retic basis for the main principles of orthomole- cular psychiatry and has allowed biochemists to understand why some individuals might require huge quantities of certain nutrients; for exam- ple, vitamins, in comparison to otherindividuals. Dr. Irwin Stone has provided an excellent sum- mary of the literature on ascorbic acid, and has pointed to the enormous importance in using adequate quantities. His concept of hypoascor- bemia; that is, a genetic disease which afflicts every person alive, is an extremely important one. Several physicians have also been in the fore- front in bringing the importance of nutrition to 8