RESUMEN
A Multi-arm Placebo-controlled Study with Glutamic Acid Conducted in Rostock in 1953/1954 Glutamic acid was commonly used in the treatment of intellectually disabled children in the 50s. Koch reported first results of an observation of 140 children treated with glutamic acid in 1952. In this line is the multi-arm placebo-controlled study reported here. The original study protocols were available. 58 children with speech problems who attending a school of special needs received glutamic acid, or vitamin B, or St.-John's-wort. The effect of glutamic acid was in few cases an improvement of attention. On the other hand restlessness and stutter increased. The majority of all reported a weight loss. The treatment with vitamin B showed a positive effect concerning concentration. The treatment with St.-John's wort was stopped caused by headache and vomiting in eight of nine cases. The results of the study reported here are unpublished. The reason may be that until the 60s the effects of glutamic acid in the treatment of intellectually disabled children were in generally overestimated.
Asunto(s)
Ensayos Clínicos Controlados como Asunto/historia , Ácido Glutámico/historia , Ácido Glutámico/uso terapéutico , Discapacidad Intelectual/tratamiento farmacológico , Discapacidad Intelectual/historia , Fitoterapia/historia , Extractos Vegetales/historia , Extractos Vegetales/uso terapéutico , Tartamudeo/tratamiento farmacológico , Tartamudeo/historia , Complejo Vitamínico B/historia , Complejo Vitamínico B/uso terapéutico , Niño , Alemania , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , HypericumRESUMEN
Since the mid-1990s, governments and health organizations around the world have adopted policies designed to increase women's intake of the B-vitamin 'folic acid' before and during the first weeks of pregnancy. Building on initial clinical research in the United Kingdom, folic acid supplementation has been shown to lower the incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs). Recent debate has focused principally on the need for mandatory fortification of grain products with this vitamin. This article takes a longer view, tracing the transformation of folic acid from a routine prenatal supplement to reduce the risk of anaemia to a routine 'pre-conceptional' supplement to 'prevent' birth defects. Understood in the 1950s in relation to social problems of poverty and malnutrition, NTDs were by the end of the century more likely to be attributed to individual failings. This transition was closely associated with a second. Folic acid supplements were initially prescribed to 'high-risk' women who had previously borne a child with a NTD. By the mid-1990s, they were recommended for all women of childbearing age. The acceptance of folic acid as a 'risk-reducing drug' both relied upon and helped to advance the development of preventive and clinical practices concerned with women's health before pregnancy.
Asunto(s)
Suplementos Dietéticos/historia , Ácido Fólico/historia , Defectos del Tubo Neural/historia , Atención Prenatal/historia , Complejo Vitamínico B/historia , Anemia/etiología , Anemia/historia , Anemia/prevención & control , Femenino , Ácido Fólico/uso terapéutico , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Recién Nacido , Defectos del Tubo Neural/etiología , Defectos del Tubo Neural/prevención & control , Política , Embarazo , Conducta de Reducción del Riesgo , Reino Unido , Complejo Vitamínico B/uso terapéuticoRESUMEN
Periconceptional intake of folic acid is known to reduce a woman's risk of having an infant affected by a neural tube birth defect (NTD). National programs to mandate fortification of food with folic acid have reduced the prevalence of NTDs worldwide. Uncertainty surrounding possible unintended consequences has led to concerns about higher folic acid intake and food fortification programs. This uncertainty emphasizes the need to continually monitor fortification programs for accurate measures of their effect and the ability to address concerns as they arise. This review highlights the history, effect, concerns, and future directions of folic acid food fortification programs.
Asunto(s)
Dieta , Ácido Fólico/uso terapéutico , Alimentos Fortificados , Defectos del Tubo Neural/prevención & control , Resultado del Embarazo , Atención Prenatal , Complejo Vitamínico B/uso terapéutico , Femenino , Ácido Fólico/efectos adversos , Ácido Fólico/historia , Alimentos Fortificados/efectos adversos , Alimentos Fortificados/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Humanos , Defectos del Tubo Neural/historia , Embarazo , Atención Prenatal/historia , Atención Prenatal/legislación & jurisprudencia , Complejo Vitamínico B/efectos adversos , Complejo Vitamínico B/historiaRESUMEN
Canada began to fortify its flour and bread with vitamin B when it entered the Second World War. The decision was informed by the biology of vitamin B and therefore I suggest that the complexity of this political maneuver can best be understood by considering the specificity of the biochemistry of vitamin B. In this paper I will show that the specific biology of vitamin B allowed the Canadian government the possibility of a healthier population under wartime conditions but also allowed the government a variety of means by which to develop and organize food processing practices to this end.
Asunto(s)
Alimentos Fortificados , Programas de Gobierno , Grupos de Población , Salud Pública , Deficiencia de Vitamina B , Pan/economía , Pan/historia , Canadá/etnología , Harina/economía , Harina/historia , Alimentos Fortificados/economía , Alimentos Fortificados/historia , Programas de Gobierno/economía , Programas de Gobierno/educación , Programas de Gobierno/historia , Programas de Gobierno/legislación & jurisprudencia , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Grupos de Población/educación , Grupos de Población/etnología , Grupos de Población/historia , Grupos de Población/legislación & jurisprudencia , Grupos de Población/psicología , Salud Pública/economía , Salud Pública/educación , Salud Pública/historia , Salud Pública/legislación & jurisprudencia , Complejo Vitamínico B/historia , Deficiencia de Vitamina B/etnología , Deficiencia de Vitamina B/historia , Segunda Guerra MundialRESUMEN
Working in a psychiatrically innovative environment created by the Government of Saskatchewan, Canada, Abram Hoffer and Humphry F. Osmond enunciated the adrenochrome hypothesis for the biogenesis of schizophrenia in 1952, slightly later proposing and, apparently, demonstrating, in a double-blind study, that the symptoms of the illness could be reversed by administering large doses of niacin. After placing the hypothesis within its ideological framework, the author describes its emergence and elaboration and discusses the empirical evidence brought against it. Hoffer's idiosyncratic diagnostic procedures, especially his creation and use of a supposed biochemical marker for schizophrenia, are examined. The author argues that Hoffer's conceptualization of schizophrenia, as well as his treatment approach, depended on a tautology. Following David Healy, the author treats the adrenochrome hypothesis as a version of a transmethylation theory, thus incorporating it into mainstream psychopharmacology.