The brain is made of substances from the food that we eat. Therefore the food that we eat affects the brain.
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This clipart was also taken from the Curtin website. These amino acids do not have carbon rings. Alanine is very important because it can convert to carbohydrate and enter the citric acid cycle in the form of pyruvate.
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This is methionine, which contains a sulfur atom. Methionine is a methyl donor. Gilka, an orthomolecular scientist from Canada, favored avoiding methyl donors in the diet because he believed an abnormally methylated substance, possibly DMPEA, caused schizophrenia. Gilka also suspected tryptophan.
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This is psilocybin, which comes from a "magic" mushroom. The clipart is from the "Molecule of the Month" clipart website, as is tryptophan and mescaline. This website is more advanced than Rader's websites for kids. Psilocbin is psychoactive, causing hallucinations. The structures of hallucinogens have been studied by brilliant scientists such as Hoffer and Osmond for clues to schizophrenia.
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This is the chemical structure of mescaline, which is very similar to the structure of DMPEA. Osmond & Smythies studied this similarity in 1952 and suggested that DMPEA might cause schizophrenia. This theory was confirmed by Friedhoff & Van Winkle in 1962. Unfortunately Friedhoff is deceased.
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This clipart of an amino acid comes from the Curtin website. Pauling was obsessed with vitamins, although he did not invent megavitamin therapy. Hoffer & Osmond of Canada invented megavitamin therapy. This author (Olson) feels that amino acids are the real problem in psychiatric diseases. This author does not recommend megavitamin treatment, although vitamins in moderation are useful.
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Again I have used the Curtin clipart website, which is educational. This is the amino acid proline, which has a ring.
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Shown here are phenolic substances which are phytochemicals. They are found in plants.
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This is glutamate, which is a neurotransmitter. There are theories about glutamate in schizophrenia. According to an orthomolecular theory, glutamate should be avoided in the diet.
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This is tryptophan, which is valuable in the normal person. It is a precursor of niacin, which is vital for energy metabolism. In pellagra, a disease caused by niacin deficiency, the patient develops psychiatric symtoms.
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