In Memory of Dr Abram Hoffer - the first orthomolecular psychiatrist
Dr Abram Hoffer, the last of the great pioneers of nutritional medicine, died last week after a brief illness. He was born in 1917 on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, and attended a one-room schoolhouse, arriving on horseback, eventually graduating from the University of Saskatchewan (BSA, MSA), the University of Minnesota (PhD) and the University of Toronto (MD). He specialized in psychiatry and was, for many years, director of psychiatric research for the Saskatchewan Department of Public Health and associate professor of medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.
He carried out groundbreaking research in several areas, ultimately authoring more than 500 peer-reviewed and popular articles and more than 30 academic monographs and popular books. He challenged the then-dominant view of schizophrenia as a psychological disorder caused by poor mothering, and contributed importantly to the formation of the field of neuropsychopharmacology. He co-authored research on the genetics of schizophrenia with the renowned geneticist, Ernst Mayer. He co-discovered the first effective cholesterol-lowering agent, the B vitamin niacin. He developed a controversial treatment for acute schizophrenia based on the principles of respect, shelter, sound nutrition, appropriate medication and the administration of large doses of certain vitamins, in the process carrying out among the first ever double-blind controlled clinical trials in the history of psychiatry. He advanced a plausible biochemical hypothesis to explain the cause of schizophrenia and how niacin and vitamin C could eliminate its symptoms and prevent relapses. He founded the International Schizophrenia Foundation.
His colleague and friend, the American chemist and twice Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling, championed the biochemical model for treating schizophrenia that was developed by Abram Hoffer in Saskatchewan and provided a conceptual underpinning for the notion that large doses of certain naturally occurring substances can favourably alter disordered brain biochemistry, coining the term "orthomolecular psychiatry." Abram moved to Victoria in 1976 where he practiced psychiatry for many years, helping thousands of people with schizophrenia and other mental health problems.
I met him in Vancouver in the early 1980's. He told me he had an 85% success rate, by which he meant "free of symptoms, able to socialise with family and friends, and paying income tax." I became his student and came to respect his dedication to helping people, his sharp mind, and kind nature. He would often ask his new patients with schizophrenia "What are you going to do when you get better?" and do everything he could to help them get well. I met many whose lives had been literally saved.
I invited him to the UK for an ION conference in the 90's. In 2006 we made a filmed lecture, and a live link up for questions and answers with him at the first Food for the Brain conference. This lecture is still available on DVD. He was an active member of Food for the Brain's Scientific Advisory Board and maintained his enthusiasm and intellectual acuity right up to the end.
Together with Dr Roger Williams, who developed the genetotrophic theory of disease - that nutrients influence genes, and discovered pantothenic acid (B5) and co-discovered folic acid, and Dr Linus Pauling, who helped to shape the concept of orthomolecular medicine, and the need for larger intakes of nutrients such as vitamin C to restore health, Dr Abram Hoffer will be remembered for his pivotal role in starting a revolution in medical and nutritional thinking. We stand on the shoulders of these giants, all of whom lived into their nineties and never retired.
With best wishes
Patrick Holford
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