Nutrition is directly related to longevity and physical and mental well-being. The diseases and disabilities that arise from suboptimum nutrition produce physical stress on the body, which in turn can contribute to psychological distress and anxiety. Nutrition is thus of great importance to you both for the sake of your general health and in relation to any anxiety symptoms you may have.
One reason there is so much conflicting advice on the subject of nutrition is that, in a sense, there are two competing sciences of nutrition. One, represented by the United States Food and Nutrition Board and by the medical establishment in general, is based on the old idea that recommended daily allowances of vitamins should be the amounts that prevent vitamin deficiencies in most people. These recommended daily allowances (RDAs) are the ones listed on vitamin preparations manufactured in the United States. This approach to nutrition is analogous to the medical principle that the dose of medicine used should be the smallest amount that will cure the disease. This is obviously a wise approach in dealing with powerful drugs that are not normally present in the body and that produce serious side effects.
However, vitamins are not drugs. They are essential nutrient substances that are normally present in the body. The newer science of nutrition—which has been called “ortho-molecular medicine” by its preeminent spokesman, Linus Pauling—is based on the relatively new idea that the optimum intake of vitamins for human beings in general and for any person in particular may be much higher than the minimum amount that prevents a deficiency disease in most people.
Pauling, the recipient of two Nobel prizes (one in chemistry and one for contributions to world peace), coined the word “orthomolecular” to mean “the right molecules in the right amounts.” He has defined orthomolecular medicine as “the prevention and treatment of disease and the preservation of good health by varying the concentration of these molecules in the human body.” Pauling believes that optimum concentrations of nutrient substances like vitamins can strengthen the body’s natural defense mechanisms against disease, can increase life expectancy by perhaps 20 years, and can similarly increase the period of health and well-being in most people’s lives.
It is beyond the scope of this website to go deeply into the reasoning behind orthomolecular medicine, except to note the basic ideas on which the new science is built: (1) the modern human diet is not the one on which the human body is genetically adapted to thrive, (2) the biochemical individuality of human beings may mean that the optimum amount of certain nutrients varies by more than a factor of 20 from person to person, (3) resistance to disease can be significantly increased by increasing the intake of certain nutrients (especially ascorbic acid, or vitamin C) well above the RDA standards set by the Food and Nutrition Board.
At this point, no one really knows what the optimum intake of vitamins is, so the ultimate test is how we feel when we take different amounts of vitamins for a period of time. In the Self-Care Program we have listed the amounts Linus Pauling takes, as well as the ranges suggested by Richard A. Passwater in his book Supemutrition.
We also provide some basic dietary guidelines generally recommended by nutritionists and health-care specialists. We list substances that are suspected or known to contribute to the physical sensations commonly identified as anxiety symptoms, as well as natural substances that are held to have calming or tranquilizing effects.
Finally, we recommend sources of information for those who wish to explore the subject of nutrition more thoroughly.
In regard to buying vitamin and mineral supplements, our advice is to look carefully for the best prices, since identical substances are sold at widely different per-unit prices.
We have also included a Nutrition and Medication Log to help you become more aware of the effects of your nutritional habits, drugs, and other psychoactive substances (namely, alcohol and caffeine) on your day-to-day sense of well-being.
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