Vitamin Deficiencies and Vitamin
Therapy in Schizophrenia
It is currently popular to regard schizophrenia as a
“multiple-hit” neurodevelopmental disorder;
equally plausible is the older hypothesis of a toxic
psychosis triggered by an abnormal endogenous metabolite.
Organic brain disorders indistinguishable
from schizophrenia may be induced by certain drugs
and by neurological, metabolic, inflammatory and
infectious diseases (1). Such disorders account for
approximately 5% of cases initially diagnosed as
first-episode schizophrenia by expert psychiatrists
(5). Wilson’s disease, unrecognized adult
phenylketonuria (6), pellagra and celiac disease (7)
can induce brain disorders indistinguishable from
schizophrenia. A patient with celiac disease and classic
schizophrenia with typical SPECT scan abnormalities
had complete resolution of both diseases
after being placed on a gluten-free diet (8). Although
known metabolic disorders and neurologic injury
only rarely cause clinical schizophrenia, their very
existence is good reason to search for the abnormal
molecules, enzyme activities, and markers of brain
injury that may eventually reveal its cause or causes.