You have probably come across the term ‘ orthomolecular nutrition ‘. It is also sometimes called orthomolecular therapy. It is a fairly new diet and raises questions in many people. We will answer that today.What is orthomolecular nutrition?
Orthomolecular nutrition comes from natural medicine. It is a diet that contains a lot of vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. However, this is often more than the daily recommended amount.
This therapy follows two principles:
- You can use vitamins to treat a variety of conditions and conditions that are not normally thought of as a result of a vitamin deficiency.
- An “optimum” dose of vitamins is used to prevent diseases that are usually caused by a vitamin deficiency.
Although you eat and prepare a lot of healthy meals, you also use a lot of supplements to achieve the optimal dosage. The basis of orthomolecular nutrition recommends this. The pollution of the air would also contribute significantly to the need for more nutrients and micronutrients. For example, there would be little zinc in the soil as a result of the use of fertilizers. If you eat a lot of vegetables, you still don't get enough vitamins, so you have to use supplements.
Is it healthy?
There is much criticism of orthomolecular therapy. In principle, you could consider the basis of orthomolecular nutrition as healthy. It is about choosing healthy food (preferably organic food) and using orthomolecular supplements to prevent any deficiencies. A balanced diet is indeed very important for a healthy body and you can benefit a lot from orthomolecular nutrition recipes. However, most therapy takes this one step further.For example, you would have to take many supplements so that you exceed the recommended daily amount (RDA) of these vitamins. As we already know, consuming too much of certain vitamins can be harmful to health.
In addition, orthomolecular therapy claims that modern drugs are counterproductive to your body. According to them, it would be better to use natural products to cure your illnesses. This can be very dangerous.
You can read a lot about research within orthomolecular nutrition and therapy, but these are not all equally reliable. In many cases, both the doctor and the test subject are aware of the contents of the pill, so that a placebo effect occurs. In addition, many test groups consist of only a few people. Other studies based on this therapy proved to be ineffective, or even harmful to the subjects.
Conclusion
Although the basis of orthomolecular nutrition can be very healthy, we cannot recommend this therapy. There is currently too little evidence that it is effective, and there are major health risks associated with it.
If you would like to improve your health, or if you want to know if you have a deficiency of a certain substance or vitamin, it is wise to contact your doctor or a dietician. They can give you appropriate and healthy advice.