Nutritionally oriented physicians have sometimes described their use of vitamin supplements as "precursor therapy." The rationale has been to provide large amounts of the biochemical building blocks of enzymes to increase their biological activity, which in turn promotes normal health.
In a new article, Bruce N. Ames, PhD, of the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the world's most respected cell biologists, has taken the concept of precursor therapy a step further. In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Ames described the use of high-potency vitamins and other supplements in the treatment of more than 50 diseases - including heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, migraines, and alcohol intolerance - caused by genetic defects.
Ames optimistically forecast a new medical era in which physicians will evaluate their patients' individual genetic weaknesses, then prescribe specific vitamin supplements to compensate for those weaknesses. "Feeding high doses of the vitamin raises the tissue [enzyme] cofactor concentrations and thereby increases the activity of the defective enzyme," he wrote.
According to Ames, one-third of genetic mutations, or sites of damage in genes, reduce the "binding affinity" of enzymes to vitamin-dependent coenzymes or substrates. This means that a mutation runs a high risk of preventing an enzyme from linking up with a needed vitamin or vitamin-like nutrient. As a consequence, the enzyme's activity becomes sluggish, essential biochemical reactions fail to take place, and the risk of disease increases.
Some of the genetic defects, known as polymorphisms, may be inborn, or they may be caused by age-related free-radical damage to genes.
In his article, Ames focused on eight B-complex vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, alpha-lipoic acid, carnitine, and other nutrients.
For example, a defect in how the body processes vitamin B2 and folic acid affects 10-20 percent of the population, which can increase the risk of migraine headaches, birth defects, and coronary heart disease. Large doses of supplements, such as those sold in health food stores, can increase the amount of enzyme cofactors and prevent or reverse the disorder.
Similarly, large amounts of vitamin B6 have been shown helpful in the treatment of anxiety, hostility, and depression, noted Ames. The vitamin is required for the body's production of many neuro-transmitters Ð brain communication chemicals Ð and supplements can increase production of serotonin, one neurotransmitter that is often low in people with depression and other psychiatric disorders.
"Health food and drug stores sell a variety of high-dose B vitamin pills called B50, B100, and similar formulations...Until now, there has been little general support for high-dose B vitamin intake, so the presence of these pills on the market is puzzling," wrote Ames. "This review suggests that for some persons there might be a benefit from high-dose B-vitamin treatment..."
In his conclusion, Ames also wrote, "High-dose vitamin therapies have been efficacious in ameliorating about 50 genetic diseases....The examples discussed...are likely to represent only a small fraction of the total number of defective enzymes that would be responsive to therapeutic vitamins."
REFERENCE
Ames BN, Elson Schwab H, Silver EA. High-dose vitamin therapy stimulates variant enzymes with decreased coenzyme binding affinity (increased Km): relevance to genetic disease and polymorphisms. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2002;75:616-658.