There is a group of individuals, including children who suffer from severe mental problems and are often misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia or attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These people are, in fact, pellagrines—people suffering from a pellagra-like syndrome that we call B-complex deficiency syndrome (BCDS). For these people, their incurable schizophrenia and intractable mental problems are not only treatable—they can be cured.
Pellagra and BCDS are B-vitamin (and especially vitamin b3) deficiency syndromes that typically cause a child of adult to have the symptoms of and being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, dementia, autoimmune disease, irritable bowel, leaky gut syndrome, and more. The metal symptoms of BCDS can look almost identical to schizophrenia. They include but are not limited to delusions, hallucinations, confusion, anxiety, depression, irritability, headaches, and a fear that something dreadful is going to happen. Both pellagra and BCDS also cause physical symptoms, usually in the skin, immune system and gut. Dermatitis, chronic diarrhea with constipation, allergies and asthma are the most classic.
In the old days, individuals with BCDS ad pellagra were treated like lepers because people thought they had a contagious disease. They acted crazy, looked bad, and often had dreadful skin conditions. Of course, it was not until later that we discovered that their disease was not contagious but rather a vitamin deficiency problem brought on by a mostly corn-based diet.
The brilliant Canadian psychiatrist, Abraham Hoffer, was the trailblazer in this field as he helped thousands of patients by giving them large doses of vitamin B3, and then later B3 plus other vitamins and minerals. Hoffer and others, such as Carl Pfeiffer, started successfully using appropriate diet and supplements in the mid-1900s to prove that mental problems were not always schizophrenia, that schizophrenia was not always incurable, and that millions of diagnoses of schizophrenia had been and continued to be wrong.
Mental Problems and Schizophrenia Today
Flash forward to our time. Our diet has deteriorated even further, and more kids and adults than ever suffer from mental problems and the 3d’s of pellagra or BCDS—dementia, dermatitis and diarrhea. The dementia of BCDS can be in the form of ADD, ADHD, depression, anxiety and even schizophrenia. Today we just have new names for it and new drugs to treat it. In reality, the correct treatment of the underlying cause remains the same—proper diet and supplementation.
Today, step one in treating BCDS begins with diet. All processed foods and grains must be eliminated. The diet needs to be higher in protein and nutritious fat, with few carbohydrates. Gluten must be avoided. A whole B-complex supplement must be used. For most people Cataplex B from Standard Process is the product of choice at a dose of 6-12 daily. For some people who are irritable and high strung, Cataplex B used at 6-9 daily, combined with Cataplex G at 6-9 daily. Cataplex G is the calming side of the B complex.
The best foods to eat are what we like to call nutrient-dense foods. Like it or not, the most nutrient-dense foods, especially in “brain nutrients, and B vitamins, are meat, fish, poultry, eggs and fish liver oil. These foods are totally unlike the American diet of refined and processed foods with lots of carbohydrates that are difficult to digest and that make gut and mental problems worse Rather, meat, fish and so on have the highest content of vitamins, and minerals, amino acids, nourishing fats and other nutrition needed by your gut and brain on a daily, almost hourly basis. And unlike grains and carbohydrates, these foods are relatively easy to digest.
A list of the foods with the highest quantity and quality of the vitamins needed to help people normalize their brain and gut would include:
Vitamin B1(thiamine): the richest sources are pork, liver, heart and kidneys.
Vitamin B2(riboflavin): the richest sources are eggs, meat, milk, poultry and fish.
Vitamin B3 (niacin): the richest sources are meat and poultry.
Vitamin B4 (has no other name): almost unknown in the medical world, it is critical to heart health and is found primarily in organ meat.
Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid): the richest sources are meat and liver.
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine): the richest sources are meat, poultry, fish and eggs.
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin): the richest sources are meat poultry, eggs, fish and milk.
Biotin: the richest sources are liver and egg yolks.
Vitamin A: the richest sources are liver, fish, egg yolks, fish liver oil (cod liver oil) and butter.
Vitamin D: the richest sources are fish liver oil (cod liver oil), eggs and fish.
I have highlighted liver because it contains all of the nutrients for which most people with gut and mental problems are starving. If this is your situation, and if you eat organic liver weekly, this approach alone will go a long way toward resolving your BCDS and pellagra problems.
When my son was old enough to eat solid food, we froze organic liver and took a small chunk out of the freezer a couple times a week, combined with barely cooked egg yolk, and gave it to him. He could not eat it fast enough. And this fare, which would horrify most physicians, served his brain, his gut and his immune system well.
So if you suffer from any form of dementia or metal problems, with or without the other two D’s of pellagra (diarrhea and dermatitis), use nutrition before setting out on a life of toxic drugs. Make the dietary switch. Eat some organic liver. Get away from processed foods. Eat whole foods and lots of proteins in the forms described here. And finally, get the supplements you need that are made from the same whole foods. Allow 6 months and judge for yourself. Go ahead—astound your physician by curing and incurable condition.
