Simply put, it is niacin, and plenty of it.
In the film "Masks of Madness; Science of Healing," psychiatrist Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D. says:
"Mental illness is usually biochemical illness. Mental illness is a disorder of brain dysfunction. Schizophrenia is vitamin B-3 (niacin) dependency. If schizophrenia strikes someone at age 25, he's finished. That is, if he's only given drugs. Patients are given drugs and released. The new mental hospital today is the streets."
I viewed this film Friday night, April 10, at the 32nd Nutritional Medicine. Today conference recently held in Toronto. During subsequent sessions, I paid special attention when Dr. Hoffer spoke to set the record straight on the alleged "dangers" of niacin therapy:
"Niacin is probably not quite as safe as water, but pretty close to it. Patients ask me, 'How dangerous is niacin therapy?' I answer them, 'You are going to live a lot longer. Is that a problem for you?'
"There have been no deaths ever from niacin. The LD 50 (the dosage that would **** half of those taking it) for dogs is 6,000 milligrams per kilogram body weight. That is equivalent to half a pound of niacin per day for a human. No human takes 225,000 milligrams of niacin a day. They would be nauseous long before reaching a harmful dose.
"The top niacin dose ever was a 16-year-old schizophrenic girl who took 120 tablets (500 mg each) in one day. That is 60,000 mg of niacin. The 'voices' she had been hearing were gone immediately. She then took 3,000 mg a day to maintain wellness.
"Niacin is not liver toxic. Niacin therapy increases liver function tests. But this elevation means that the liver is active. It does not indicate an underlying liver pathology."