[troutman]

http://www.quackwatch.com/01Quackery...ics/ortho.html

Several expert teams have examined the claims of "orthomolecular" proponents and concluded that they are unsubstantiated.

The Bottom Line

The human body has limited capacity to use vitamins in its metabolic activities. When vitamins are consumed in excess of the body's physiological needs, they function as drugs rather than vitamins. A few situations exist in which high doses of vitamins are known to be beneficial, but they must still be used with caution because of potential toxicity. For example, large doses of niacin can be very useful as part of a comprehensive, medically supervised program for controlling abnormal blood cholesterol levels. "Orthomolecular" practitioners go far beyond this, however, by prescribing large amounts of supplements to all or most of the patients who consult them. This approach can result in great harm to psychiatric patients when used instead of effective medications.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomo...ific_reception

Orthomolecular therapies have been criticized as lacking a sufficient evidence base for clinical use: their scientific foundations are too weak, the studies that have been performed are too few and too open to interpretation, and reported positive findings in observational studies are contradicted by the results of more rigorous clinical trials.[55][58] The lack of scientifically rigorous testing of orthomolecular medicine has led to its practices being classed with other forms of alternative medicine and regarded as unscientific.[59][60][61] It has been described as food faddism and quackery, with critics arguing that it is based upon an "exaggerated belief in the effects of nutrition upon health and disease."[15][16][17]