national center for complementary and alternative medicine five-year strategic plan 2001–2005

(Frankie) #1

integratively. Kaufman is the author of Happiness Is
A Choice(New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1991),
and other books. He and his wife, Samahria (Suzi
Lyte) Kaufman, operate the Institute in Sheffield,
Massachusetts.


organ remedies In Chinese traditional medicine,
homeopathy, and Ayurvedic medicine, herbal
remedies corresponding to the body’s organs and
their disease or dysfunction and to the whole indi-
vidual’s status. For example, ginseng or astragalus
may be prescribed for disorders of the spleen and
lungs; hawthorn berries or night-blooming cereus
(cactus), for heart problems; rehmannia (Chinese
foxglove), sarsaparilla, marshmallow root, or net-
tle, for kidney and bladder disorders; blue cohosh
or shepherd’s purse, for uterine disorders; saw pal-
metto, for prostate problems; and bupleurum, dan-
delion root, or chelidonium, for liver diseases. The
idea that “the herbs are organs” is derived from the
writings of the Swiss alchemist and physician
Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombast von Hohen-
heim), 1493–1541.


Orloff, Judith American board-certified psychia-
trist, assistant professor of psychiatry at UCLA
Medical School, and author of books including Dr.
Judith Orloff’s Guide to Intuitive Healing: Five Steps to
Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Wellness (Pittsburgh,
Pa.: Three Rivers Press, 2001).


Ornish, Dean American physician; assistant clin-
ical professor of medicine and attending physician
at the School of Medicine, University of California,
San Francisco; and attending physician at the Cali-
fornia Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.
Ornish is also president and director of the Preven-
tive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Cali-
fornia. A graduate of Baylor College of Medicine,
he was a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard
Medical School and an intern and medical resident
at Massachusetts General Hospital. Ornish is the
author of books including Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program
for Reversing Heart Disease(New York: Ballantine
Books, 1990). The Preventive Medicine Research
Institute (PMRI) address is 1001 Bridgeway, Box
305, Sausalito, CA 94965.


orthomolecular medicine The practice of pre-
venting and treating disease by providing the body
with optimal amounts of substances that are nat-
ural to it. The term orthomolecularwas first used by
Dr. Linus Pauling in 1968 in his famous paper in
the journal Science. In nine reports, Pauling pro-
vided a rational basis for the use of optimal, even
if large, doses of nutrients. His theory explained
how evolution was shaped by the loss of the
chemical machinery required to make essential
nutrients. His first paper appeared in 1970, his last
one in 1992. Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., was Paul-
ing’s coauthor for the two vitamin C/cancer
reports. Hoffer wrote, “Until his death in 1994, Dr.
Pauling contributed perhaps his most important
clinical contribution, the work showing the impor-
tant relationship between vitamin C levels and
cardiovascular disease. If everyone were to take
optimum amounts of this vitamin, many of the
world’s major diseases would vanish. The National
Academy of Sciences refused to accept Dr. Paul-
ing’s valuable reports.”
Orthomolecular medicine maintains that genetic
factors are pivotal to both the structure of the body
and its biochemicals. Genetically biochemical path-
ways vary significantly in terms of transcriptional
potential and individual enzyme concentrations,
receptor-ligand affinities, and protein transporter
efficiency. In the presence or event of a biochemi-
cal anomaly, diseases including atherosclerosis,
cancer, schizophrenia, and depression may be
caused or aggravated. Correcting the amount of
vitamins, amino acids, trace elements, or fatty acids
in order to correct the biochemical abnormality is a
major goal of orthomolecular therapy.
Hoffer also wrote in The Journal of Orthomolecular
Medicine and its Development1967–1996, “In 1967,
shortly after the formation of the Canadian Schizo-
phrenia Foundation, and in the USA, the American
Schizophrenia Association, we published the first
issue of a journal called the Journal of Schizophrenia.
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 jour-
nals, and by then I had about 150 articles and sev-
eral books in the establishment press. The
subsequent difficulty, therefore, did not arise from

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