"Man is a food-dependent creature. If you don't feed him, he will die. If you feed him improperly, part of him will die."

- Emanuel Cheraskin

Introduction

Cheraskin was the author of "Psychodietetics: Food as the Key to Emotional Health" as well as other similar books. He was an orthomolecular doctor.

Certain diseases have been proven to be brain allergies. The brain is allergic to certain amino acids in the diet. One example is PKU, where the food allergy is to the amino acid PHE (phenylalanine). Another example is hyperargininemia, where there is too much arginine in the blood. Arginine must be avoided in the diet.

Yet another example is celiac disease, where the patient is allergic to glutamine. Psychiatric symptoms are seen.

Hyperargininemia

Arginine is found in the following foods:

Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, carob, caseinate, chocolate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, oatmeal, popcorn, raisins, seafood, seeds, sesame seeds, soy, sunflower seeds, whey, whole grains.

For the normal person, these are mostly good foods. However, for a patient with hyperargininemia, which means too much arginine in the blood, they are bad.

Celiac Disease

This terrible disease has both psychiatric symptoms and gastrointestinal symptoms. It seems that there is a transport error in the amino acid glutamine, which is found in wheat gluten and dairy products. A close relative, glutamic acid, is found in high concentrations in the brain.

Glutamine is in the following foods:

Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, seafood, seeds, soy, whey, whole grains. Hydrolysis of gluten, beet root or other proteins.

These foods must be avoided by a patient with celiac disease. Bread and flour are to be avoided. Dr. Dohan of Philadelphia thought that celiac disease provided an important clue to schizophrenia. My view is that Dohan was right, although different amino acids may be involved in schizophrenia.

Protein

There are certain diseases in which protein is restricted. These include kidney disease, liver disease, and aminoacidopathies. Aminoacidopathies are inborn errors of metabolism. My own theory is that protein should be restricted in mental diseases. I have gotten a lot of flack for this theory, but I still believe that this theory is correct.

Although animal products are rich in protein, except for fish oil and butter, there are some plant foods that also have substantial protein. Plant sources include beans, peas, nuts, bread, and cereals.

George Mateljan of World's Healthiest Foods recommends cruciferous vegetables for good health. My information is that he is right. These vegetables are thought to prevent cancer.

High concentrations of protein are in spinach, tofu, mustard greens, crimini mushrooms, soybeans, and mozarrella cheese. Substantial protein is in collard greens, cauliflower and many legumes including lentils, split peas, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans and garbanzo beans.

Conclusions

Not all food allergies affect the brain. Lactose intolerance is an annoying disease that causes gastrointestinal problems. It is treatable with a parve diet. A parve diet means that dairy products are not allowed. Like many diseases lactose intolerance can be hereditary.

More research needs to be done on schizophrenia. Lactose intolerance, PKU, celiac disease, and hyperargininemia are much better understood. The references that I have given are about schizophrenia. Unfortunately there have been bad side effects from psychiatric drugs. Some of these are given in reference 1. Other side effects can be obtained from Pubmed, which is a famous website run by the National Library of Medicine. Also the individual drug manufacturers have their own websites which list the side effects of their drugs.

But why do they do this? The answer is that they can't be sued if they reveal the side effects. They can be sued for a side effect that they don't reveal. If they are sued for a side effect that they reveal, the plantiffs will lose the suit because of the way the laws are written.

Such law suits are unheard of in orthomolecular medicine. The reason is that orthomolecular side effects tend to be beneficial. The drug companies have been sued many times.

References

1. Metabolic and hormonal side effects in children and adolescents treated with second-generation antipsychotics.

Fraguas D, Merchán-Naranjo J, Laita P, Parellada M, Moreno D, Ruiz-Sancho A, Cifuentes A, Giráldez M, Arango C.

J Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;69(7):1166-75.

2.Differential association of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism with clinical phenotypes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Goghari VM, Sponheim SR.

Schizophr Res. 2008 Aug;103(1-3):186-91. Epub 2008 Jun 20.

3.Use of neuromelanin-sensitive MRI to distinguish schizophrenic and depressive patients and healthy individuals based on signal alterations in the substantia nigra and locus ceruleus.

Shibata E, Sasaki M, Tohyama K, Otsuka K, Endoh J, Terayama Y, Sakai A.

Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Sep 1;64(5):401-6. Epub 2008 May 1.

4. Cheraskin, E. (2000) Detoxification: a must for the new millenium. Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine 15: #2, 60-62, Second Quarter. http://www.doctoryourself.com/pollution.html

5.Cheraskin, E. (1999) Conventional and unconventional medical practice. Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine 14: #2, 78-82, Second Quarter.

6.Cheraskin, E. (1998) Vitamin C...Who needs it? Natural Medicine 1: #5, 18, August/September. http://www.nutrition4health.org/NOHAnews/NNW94VitC.htm

7.Cheraskin, E. (1998) Why patients use alternative medicine: another possible answer. Journal of Applied Nutrition 50: #l&2, 52. http://www.doctoryourself.com/cheraskin_alternative.html

Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1273355/amino_acids_and_the_bra...