A translated article on the treatment of alcoholism.
A message from Dr Abram Hoffer:
"Ever since I met Bill W, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and we became close friends, I have had a personal interest in the treatment of alcoholism. Bill taught me that there are three components to treating alcoholism: the spiritual, the mental and the medical. AA provided a spiritual home for alcoholics that many could not find anywhere else, and helped them maintain abstinence. But for many, AA on its own was not enough; not everyone in AA had achieved comfortable sobriety. Bill realised that the other two components mattered. When he heard about our use of niacin in treating alcoholics he was enthusiastic, because niacin gave these unfortunate patients enormous relief from their chronic depression and other physical and mental complaints.
"Niacin is the single most important treatment for alcoholism and one of the most reliable. And it is safe — far safer than any of the modern psychiatric medicines. Niacin does not work as well while alcoholics are still drinking, but in several cases it has helped reduce alcohol intake until the person began to abstain. This conclusion rests on the work my colleagues and I have carried out since 1953.
"I know of many alcoholics who did not want to stop drinking but agreed to take niacin. Over the years they gradually managed to reduce their intake until they had it under control. Some alcoholics can even become social drinkers on a very small scale. I have not found many who could. But I think that if many of them went onto this programme very early, far more of them could reach normality. I suspect that treatment centres using these ideas will one day be available and will be far more successful than today's standard treatment — which still too often consists of putting people in hospital and leaving them to sober up in severe pain and suffering. When they are discharged, most go back to alcohol, the most dangerous and widely used street drug available without prescription.
"Orthomolecular treatment is a treatment that gives the right to choose. The following protocol for treating alcoholism outlines the importance of nutritional factors that have proved very successful in this condition. The treatment can be used on its own, but is best combined with dietary advice and additional nutrients."
The late Dr Roger Williams, professor of chemistry at the University of Texas and former president of the American Chemical Society, also wrote extensively about alcoholism. Dr Williams recommended large doses of vitamins and an amino acid called L-glutamine.
What should an alcoholic do to stop drinking and bring the body back to normal function? Provide the body with the following nutrients:
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Vitamin C to saturation (in the order of 10,000 to 20,000 mg a day and more). High doses of vitamin C chemically neutralise the toxic breakdown products of alcohol metabolism. Vitamin C also increases the liver's ability to reverse the fat accumulation so often seen in alcoholics.
To find the amount of vitamin C needed to bring the body to saturation, take 1,000 mg every hour. When the body is saturated there will be a single episode of diarrhoea; after that, reduce the dose to 1,000 mg every four hours. - A B50-complex tablet (containing 50 mg of each of the main B vitamins), 6 times a day.
- L-glutamine (2,000 or 3,000 mg). L-glutamine is an amino acid that reduces the physiological craving for alcohol. It is one of the two main energy sources that burn glycogen to fuel the brain, and it stimulates many neurological functions. L-glutamine is produced naturally in the liver and kidneys. Alcohol damages the kidneys and liver, which is why supplementation is vital (it reduces the craving for sugar and for alcohol at the same time).
- Lecithin (2 to 4 tablespoons a day). Provides inositol and choline, both linked to the B complex. Lecithin also helps mobilise fat out of the liver.
- Chromium (at least 200 and perhaps up to 400 mcg of chromium polynicotinate a day). Chromium significantly reduces faulty carbohydrate metabolism and greatly helps control blood sugar levels. Many, if not most, alcoholics are hypoglycaemic.
- A good high-potency multivitamin and multimineral supplement containing magnesium (400 mg) and the antioxidants carotene and vitamin E as d-alpha tocopherol.
In summary, the body of an alcoholic needs the right nutrients in adequate amounts to return to normal metabolic function. The nutrients listed above are safe, effective, inexpensive and available from health food shops without prescription.
Most illness is due largely to malnutrition. That includes not only chronic disease but also acute viral and bacterial illness, which is made far worse by poor nutrition.
Supplements are not the problem; they are the solution. Malnutrition is the problem.
What is orthomolecular medicine?
Linus Pauling defined orthomolecular medicine as "the treatment of disease by providing the optimum molecular environment, especially the optimum concentrations of substances normally present in the human body". Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight disease. More information: orthomolecular.org.
This is a translation of a published article and is not medical advice. Doses of this size should not be started without a doctor.
The original article: orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v01n06.shtml
