---
title: "Orthomolecular medicine"
chunk: 4/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:09:25.347903+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Use in AIDS ===
Several articles in the alternative-medicine literature have suggested that orthomolecular-related dietary supplementation might be helpful for patients with HIV/AIDS. 
A study using 250 mg and 1000 mg doses of vitamin C along with other antioxidants to treat people with AIDS did not find any benefit.
A meta analysis in 2010 (updated in 2017 with different results) found that micronutrient supplementation decreased the risk of death and improved outcomes in pregnant women with HIV in Africa.  A 2017 Cochrane review found no strong evidence to suggest that micronutrient supplementation prevents death or is effective at slowing the progression of disease for adults with HIV. It is important for people living with HIV to eat a healthy adequate diet. For people with HIV that have clinically demonstrated deficiencies in micronutrients or for people who are not able to consume the recommended daily quantities of minerals and vitamins, supplementation is still encouraged. Vitamin A in children with HIV appears to be safe and beneficial. Vitamin A deficiency is found in children with HIV infection who may or may not have symptoms of AIDS. Vitamin A supplementation reduces morbidity and mortality in AIDS symptomatic children, but has no effect on asymptomatic children. It does not prevent HIV infection, cannot treat the chronic HIV infection, and will not cure AIDS.

==== Deaths resulting from illegal vitamin trials in South Africa ====

Matthias Rath has been extensively criticized for presenting his vitamin supplements as a treatment for AIDS and for testing them in illegal trials in South Africa. A former associate of Linus Pauling, Rath has promoted vitamins as a treatment for HIV infection, describing treatment with effective antiretroviral drugs as toxic and part of a global conspiracy serving the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry. In a lawsuit that found against Rath, the South African Medical Association blamed his vitamin products for several deaths. The World Health Organization and two health agencies of the United Nations also described Rath's advertisements as "wrong and misleading" and "an irresponsible attack on ARV (antiretroviral) therapy." The South African Centre for Social Science Research described the trials as "state sponsored pseudo-science".  Rath's trials, conducted with the aid of AIDS denialist David Rasnick, were declared unlawful by the Cape High Court; Rath, Rasnick and their foundation were barred from conducting further unauthorised clinical trials and from advertising their products.

=== Alleged institutional bias ===
Advocates of orthomolecular medicine, including Pauling, Hoffer and Ewan Cameron have claimed that their findings are actively suppressed by the medical and pharmaceutical industry. Hoffer wrote "There is no conspiracy led and directed by a single person or by a single organization. There is no Mafia in psychiatry. However, there is a conspiracy led and directed by a large number of professionals and their associations who have a common aim to protect their hard-earned orthodoxy, no matter what the cost to their opponent colleagues or to their patients."
The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, founded in 1967 as the Journal of Schizophrenia, is a major publication of orthomolecular medicine. As Abram Hoffer wrote:

We had to create our own journals because it was impossible to obtain entry into the official journals of psychiatry and medicine. Before 1967 I had not found it difficult to publish reports in these journals, and by then I had about 150 articles and several books in the establishment press.
Other members of the medical community deny the existence of such an institutional prejudice. A review in the Journal of Clinical Oncology denied that physicians collude against unconventional treatments. Claims of conspiracy were limited to the now defunct Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. In its current iteration, the Linus Pauling Institute derives a significant amount of funding from the National Institutes of Health and other federal sources.

== See also ==

== Citations ==

== Further reading ==
Hoffer Abram; with Pauling Linus (2004). Healing cancer: complementary vitamin & drug treatments. Toronto: Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. ISBN 978-1-897025-11-6. OCLC 56682217.
Barrett Stephen (1980). The health robbers: how to protect your money and your life (Second ed.). Philadelphia: G. F. Stickley. pp. 52. ISBN 978-0-89313-023-7. OCLC 6994138.
Cassileth Barrie R (1998). Alternative medicine handbook: the complete reference guide to alternative and complementary therapies. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-04566-6. OCLC 36727947.
Bender David A (2003). Nutritional biochemistry of the vitamins (Second ed.). Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-521-80388-5. OCLC 50948594.
Gratzer Walter B (2005). Terrors of the table: the curious history of nutrition. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 210. ISBN 978-0-19-280661-1. OCLC 60837725.

== External links ==
Biologically based practices: an overview Archived 2009-01-09 at the Wayback Machine, National Institute of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine