More and more people are convinced that a balanced and conscious diet is crucial for good health. In this context, the question is increasingly being asked whether today’s foods are still sufficiently suitable for a healthy diet. In this context, the term “orthomolecular medicine” is often mentioned. This – also called microvital medicine – represents the scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of nutritional and environmental diseases through the targeted use of vital substances.
Supply of vital substances
Vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids and fatty acids must be regularly supplied to the human organism in sufficient quantities with food, since it does not produce them itself. Even the lack of a single vital substance can limit performance: non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, susceptibility to infections, poor concentration and irritability occur and often cannot be explained.
Consequences of vital substance deficiency
In the long term, vital substance deficiency even insidiously and unnoticed prepares the ground for serious diseases such as arteriosclerosis, adult-onset diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis or rheumatism. Of the multitude of vital substances required, the body needs only very small amounts of some of them – the so-called trace elements. They are also called microvital substances and perform vital tasks in every cell of the human organism.
The immune system, nerve cells, the work of muscle fibers and many other functions depend on the optimal supply of all nutrients. As building blocks of enzymes, they are involved in over 100,000 complex metabolic processes. All vital substances must be present at the right time, in the right place and in the right concentration for the finely tuned interaction of cells, tissues and organs to function smoothly.
Definition: orthomolecular medicine
The term “orthomolecular” – literally translated – the “right molecules” – or mutatis mutandis: “the right vital substances” was coined by the American biochemist Professor Dr. Linus Pauling (1901 – 1994). The two-time Nobel Prize winner formulated the basic principle as early as 1968: “Orthomolecular medicine serves to maintain good health and treat diseases by changing the concentrations of substances in the human body that should normally be present in the body and are necessary for health”.
Thus, every human being depends on regular and balanced intake of the microvital substances in the respective amounts that should be normally present in the cells of his body. This is the only way to ensure the prerequisite for a trouble-free metabolic process and optimal performance of the human organism. Thus, the central sphere of action of orthomolecular medicine lies not only in the prevention of diseases, but also in the therapy-accompanying administration of microvital substances in case of illness.
Criticism of orthomolecular medicine:
With the concept of orthomolecular medicine, it should be noted that it is an alternative medical method, for whose effectiveness there is no scientific evidence yet. The intake of vitamins and minerals recommended in orthomolecular medicine is much higher than justified by scientific evidence.
Moreover, it is controversial whether many diseases are actually caused by an unhealthy diet and a consequent lack of vital substances and, conversely, whether diseases can be cured by an adequate supply of vitamins and minerals. For some diseases whose cause is clearly a deficiency of certain vitamins or minerals, this is certainly the case. For other diseases, however, a cure by taking vitamins and minerals is highly controversial. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that long-term intake of high-dose vitamin preparations – as is quite common in orthomolecular medicine – can also cause damage to health.
