Hoffer's Protocol

Hoffer's protocol is a treatment of mood disorders involving the administration of high doses of niacin. Championed by Dr. Abram Hoffer in the mid-twentieth century, the method is now considered highly controversial.

Indications

• Only patients with certain symptoms were treated following Hoffer's protocol. Patients had to be suffering from the "three D's": dementia, dermatitis and diarrhea. These symptoms, Hoffer believed, indicated vitamin B3 or niacin deficiencies.

Fasting

• Because schizophrenia has sometimes been linked to vitamin deficiencies, Hoffer's protocol dictated that patients with thought-disorders be subjected to a fasting period of four days. If the patient's thought-problems remitted, Hoffer reasoned, then food allergies might be a possible source of the problem.

Niacin

• If patients showed signs of improvement, they were put on exceptionally high dosages of Niacin. According to the mental health non-profit Safe Harbor, the reasoning for this is that niacin has been shown to be an important part of managing essential fatty acid in the brain, which is disturbed when a person suffers from schizophrenia.

Controversy

• According to schizophrenia.com, some psychiatrists have dismissed Hoffer's work as being overly optimistic regarding the curative properties of niacin. Additionally, the U.S. National Library of Medicine reports that a study conducted by the University of Limburg found that there was not adequate support to conclude that niacin does indeed help thought disorders.