Interview Series: Dr. Philip Bate, Orthomolecular Psychologist

Before I could even ask the first question, Dr. Philip Bate, orthomolecular psychologist extraordinaire, was already off and running in his jolly tone.

“I’ve been with the Co-op since the very beginning! You make good products, and your quality control is good, and that’s rare. I’ve been recommending folks to you for years.”

At 81 years-young, Dr. Bate has tried retiring twice now, but has never made it more than a few years without jumping back into new learning. For the last 40 or so years, that learning has been psychology and health.

More specifically, Dr. Bate has grown his interest in orthomolecular psychology. Orthomolecular medicine was coined by our favorite scientist, Linus Pauling, and “aims to restore the optimum environment of the body by correcting imbalances or deficiencies using substances natural to the body.”

Dr. Bate’s friends and colleagues include orthomolecular medicine pioneers Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, Dr. Abram Hoffer, Dr. Marshall Mandell, and many others. Here is Dr. Bate’s story.

Dr. Bate: In my first career I was an engineer, but sold my company in the 1970s to sail. I came out of retirement a few years later to get my Ph.D. in psychology. I’ve been studying hypnosis since I was 21, so at first I worked mostly as a “behaviorist” which is in a large part hypnosis.

I built a thriving practice, and soon a friend referred a young schizophrenic woman to me. She had been schizophrenic for some time, and since she had no money, I said I would work with her for $5 a session if she were released to my care.

I tried everything with her, but had little success. Then one day a flyer came across my desk for mega vitamin therapy, and I decided to give it a try. It worked like a charm, she was cured. No one was more surprised than me.

I started reading three and four books a week, including lots of Dr. Carl Pfeiffer’s work on mineral toxicity and requirements and Dr. Abram Hoffer’s work too.

Dr. Bate: All mental disease is caused by stress. A huge unknown stress to Americans lies in allergens. Bad diets over time lead to leaky gut syndrome and leaves the intestines open to various peptides that the brain reacts to as allergens, thus aggravating the system.

The other side is mineral toxicity. Mercury is linked to depression. High copper levels are linked to schizophrenia. The list goes on. There are lots of things causing stress besides living.

OHC: What have you learned in studying orthomolecular medicine for physical ailments? You're really big on Vitamin C for the immune system, right?

Dr. Bate: Vitamin C intake is one of the biggest myths of all. 4 grams of vitamin C daily is the correct amount for humans, but most people take little more than 500mg. Sure, the RDA will prevent you from getting scurvy, but it’s simply not enough. Talk to any zoo veterinarian about their gorillas and you'll learn that 4g of supplemental vitamin C is a daily requirement for health, since primates cannot convert glucose to vitamin C endogenously.

Some folks say vitamin C doesn’t kill bacteria and viruses, but they’re misinformed. At 500mg a day, this may be true, as in order for Vitamin C to work kill foreign invaders, it must saturate the blood completely, and keep it saturated for a number of hours. Otherwise, the body will only kill off a portion of the foreign invaders.

If you’re taking anything less than 4g, you’re leaving some portion of bacteria or virus in your system. These little invaders replicate (double in numbers) every 20 minutes. That means if you kill off 99% with the C you use, within 200 minutes, you’re right back to where you started with a system full of bad guys.

OHC: Tell us about the success you've had using Vitamin E for Neuropathy and Retinopathy?

Dr. Bate: I’ve had great luck preventing and even reversing neuropathy and retinopathy with vitamin E. Both are caused by the clumping of blood vessels, which affects the red blood cells ability to get thru the very small and thin capillaries. This leads to a lack of oxygen in these cells. This in turn leads to loss of nerve cells - hence the name "neuropathy" (nerve death).

Vitamin E can help by preventing "clotting", or more accurately preventing "clumping" of red heme cells in the blood. I usually recommend 1200 - 1600 IU for those struggling with either of these conditions.

You make a big deal about using zinc to address erectile dysfunction. Is it really that simple?

Dr. Bate: I once did a talk for a seniors group, mostly older women, and we got to talking about impotence. Now, I live in Florida, so I know that the soil here is void of zinc and manganese. The juicy oranges are even fertilized with zinc.

Each time a man ejaculates, he loses a day’s worth of zinc, and over time the lack of zinc leads to poor erectile function. Zinc is the problem! (The next day, the local health food store ran out of zinc.)

We get a lot of questions about supplements that can tame high blood pressure. You're a fan of B12, right?

Dr. Bate: Take a sublingual, nasal, or new “patch form” of B12. Measure blood pressure before and about a half hour later. It’s much safer than the blood pressure drugs. Take it as much as you need.

Dr. Bate: Doctors say B6 is toxic when you take too much, but in truth, taking too much B6 just means you become deficient in all the other B vitamins. You can take as much as you need to stop PMS, but also take a B complex.

I once did a talk radio program with Bud Brewer in Orlando. I was on nearly every night for 7 months. I made a lot of enemies in medicine and pharmacology, but I grew quite a fan club!

“One of the first things I would always tell people is when you’re given a prescription, go to the library and find out the side-effects.”

I recommended to an older lady with night blindness to begin taking 100,000 I.U. daily of vitamin A, for the duration of one bottle. Then take 25,000 IU daily. I had a doctor call in and tell me how toxic that is, how dare I recommend it, etc.

I simply asked him, “Can you tell me how many people have died from vitamin A over the last year?” The line was silent. “None,” I said, and then asked, “Now, do you know how many people died from aspirin recommended by doctors in the last year?” Once again, silence. My answer: “6500.” My caller hung up.

Dr. Bate: You’ll like this Guido, EEG Biofeedback research started at NASA using cats. Little sensors were hooked to the brain to separate and influence various brainwaves.

NASA found that by lowering or controlling the Theta Band (4-7 Hz), attention and concentration increased. For many years now, this combination of raising SMR and lowering Theta has been used in EEG BF clinics with great success for the ADD/ADHD/Autism continuum, in particular. Researchers also found wonderful things happened when they raised the SMR wave in participants.

For a few years I leased and sold expensive biofeedback machines--until I figured out that perhaps my prior experience with subliminal messaging could have the same effects on the brain!

I started taking volunteers. Well over half of the volunteers eliminated serious brain conditions, including depression, insomnia, and ADD/ADHD improvement.

What would cost up to $6,000 in a biofeedback clinic, I can offer for $147. I’ve had the same success rates as biofeedback.

Amazingly, many patients have simultaneously eliminated various allergies and sensitivities, conditions that are certainly not considered brain problems. This biofeedback discovery also holds promise for treating anaphylactic persons, who may die if stung by insects, eat peanuts, all sorts of concerns.

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Meanwhile, this kat has heard more than once that “Dr. Bate is cute.” When you eavesdrop of girl talk, everything seems to be defined in terms of whether it/he/she is “cute” or not. Good thing felines are always “cute!” ^..^