Schizophrenia

Efficacy of Alternative and Other Treatments According to GRADE* Ranking:

Vitamin D [1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]:

Please note, this management does NOT treat the condition itself. It may mildly help in preventing some of the symptoms, and even then has insufficient evidence to back up this claim at present. Please note, this acts as a PREVENTATIVE treatment, and not necessarily symptomatic relief.

Recommendation: No recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to support claims that Vitamin D can help prevent schizophrenia)

Grade of Evidence: very low quality of evidence

Megavitamin Therapy (Multivitamin, Vitamin Supplements) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]:

Please Note that while supplements are effective in correcting deficiencies in the body, their long-term usage is not helpful in preventing diseases like cancer and heart disease. To prevent these illnesses one should eat the natural foods which these vitamins and minerals come from. Replacing natural sources with artificial supplements actually increases the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. Supplements should be taken only as a balanced multivitamin supplement that contains no more than 100% of the recommended daily allowance. It would be most helpful in people with restricted food intakes, pregnant women and women of childbearing age.

Recommendation: Weakly against. (There is no evidence that Megavitamin therapy can prevent or treat schizophrenia. In fact, long term therapy can lead to increased risk for other diseases)

Grade of Evidence: moderate quality of evidence

* www.gradeworkinggroup.org

Summary References

Treatments:

1. Ades T, Alteri R, Gansler T, Yeargin P, "Complete Guide to Complimentary & Alternative Cancer Therapies", American Cancer Society, Atlanta USA, 2009

2. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/orthomolecular-medicine

3. http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/163/2/192.pdf

4. http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/ortho.html

5. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/72/5/707

6. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/no-index/about-ama/13638.shtml

7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17327526

8. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD006164/frame.html

9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10824056

10. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcb.10338/abstract

11. http://pain-topics.org/pdf/vitamind-report.pdf

12. http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1185/030079908X253519

13. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article756975.ece

14. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17556697

15. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18065602

16. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vitamind.html


 

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