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by Kent MacLeod Forward by: |
There are very few physicians in the world today who deserve more credit for establishing the value of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients than Dr. Abram Hoffer. His pioneering contribution to the rapidly expanding field of nutritional medicine over the past 50 years is known internationally through his more than 500 publications and extensive lecturing.
At age 85, Dr. Hoffer is as sharp as most of his colleagues half his age. He still works four days per week at his clinic in Victoria, British Columbia, and is always preparing new publications and lectures. His practice, which began primarily as psychiatric, has evolved to include hundreds of cancer patients referred to him by their oncologists. Says Hoffer, "They usually come to me when their doctors have exhausted the possibilities of standard treatment. Just imagine how well they'd be if they sought orthomolecular treatment first!"
Dr. Hoffer founded the American Schizophrenia Association (later known as the Huxly Institute for Biosocial Research) in 1964, and the Canadian Schizophrenia Foundation in 1968. One of Dr. Hoffer's many books, How to Live with Schizophrenia, attracted the attention of two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling who coined the word orthomolecular in his seminal paper published in Science in 1968. Hoffer's work had a significant influence on Pauling who joined the editorial board of the Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry. This respected publication, which Hoffer founded in 1972, was renamed the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine in 1986. Together, Hoffer and Pauling published important studies showing the positive effects of orthomolecular treatment for cancer.
Through five decades as a practising physician and researcher, Abram Hoffer has experienced the slow shifting of attitudes regarding nutritional medicine. He has never lost his courageous vision or his remarkable receptivity to new ideas.
The best way to have a good idea,
is to have lots of ideas.
Linus Pauling
I first became interested in Down Syndrome when I heard about the work being done by Dr. Henry Turkel in Detroit many years ago. He developed a multivitamin, multimineral preparation with thyroid which he gave to a large number of children with Down Syndrome and he consistently reported good to excellent results. I published many of his papers in the Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry and its earlier versions. Dr. Turkel suffered the fate of almost all early pioneers. He had the nerve to make his claims when everyone "knew" that children with genetic defects could not possibly be treated successfully. He fought back with great ferocity but at last was restricted to shipping his product only in Michigan with major penalties if he were to send it across the Michigan border to any other place. Eventually he retired to Israel. He bequeathed his books to Dr. Bernard Rimland who has been distributing them. I have a couple of copies. Apparently the treatment is much more popular in Japan. Over the ensuing years, there appeared to be little progress in the area of nutritional treatments for children with Down Syndrome, probably because American physicians were too fearful of the FDA and their own parent organizations to try it. Then Kent MacLeod started his clinical studies and his laboratory.
This book is the outcome of his work over the past 20 years. Using the most modern laboratory tests, MacLeod and his group analyze the abnormal biochemistry of children with Down Syndrome, as well as other children who might have Autism or one of the attention deficit syndromes. When the abnormal pathology is detected and corrected with the correct use of the nutrients these children improve. They are not cured in the same way that diabetes is never cured. With diabetes the patients must take insulin and watch their food forever. The same holds true for Down Syndrome: they must take their special nutrient formula and watch their diet forever. This is a small price to pay for the health improvements that come from this program.
MacLeod provides many case histories of children and their families on the pages that follow.
One must give credit to the parents, especially the mothers, who fight so hard and search so diligently for information which will help their children recover. They had to face the usual opposition from a profession which still believes that nutrients are of little value and that nothing can be done. These cases are very convincing. If I had a Down Syndrome child I would immediately consult Kent MacLeod. I wish he lived in Victoria B.C. rather than in Ottawa.
MacLeod uses orthomolecular treatment. This word, coined by Linus Pauling in 1968, has become increasingly popular as physicians realize what it means for their patients. It emphasizes the use of organic molecules that are normally present in the body. It does not include the use of herbs or drugs but these are useful in some cases as adjuncts to the main therapy. When the biochemical abnormalities are corrected with the right nutrients in optimum doses the disease comes under control. In the case of children with Down Syndrome, the children gain the intelligence their genes have organized for them, their behaviour becomes normal, they become productive and they do not suffer the stigma of chronic disease. The improved health and productivity that results for each child probably saves the country in which they live and their parents $2 million over their natural life span of between 45 and 50 years.
This book provides useful descriptions of the many nutrients which may be involved and how they are used. In my opinion this treatment approach must be used for all of these children. One day it will be, when medical schools in Canada wake up and start teaching its method. I suppose they are still waiting for double blind randomized therapeutic trials that no drug company will fund because the treatment can not be patented.
A. Hoffer M.D., Ph.D. FRCP(C)
ISBN 0-9734337-0-1 | PB
251 pages | $39.95 CDN | $29.00 U.S.
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