The meeting I attended in Sao Paulo, August 13-15, was one of the few meetings where there were almost all of the attendees were physicians who were not only not afraid but were, on the contrary, proud to be associated with the word orthomolecular and its meaning for medicine.

This was the VI International Symposium on Orthomolecular Medicine of the Brazilian Society of Orthomolecular Medicine. We met at the Maksoud Plaza Convention Center. Dr. G.P. Deucher is the Chairman of the Organizing committee and Dr. O. Malina, ISOM President, is one of the members. Many of the papers were in English with translation facilities into Portuguese. The main emphasis was on free radical pathology and the use and role of antioxidants in human physiology and disease. Speakers came from USA, France, Russia, Argentina and Brazil.

I was excited by the fulfillment of what has long been a vision of mine, an international medical meeting with the main emphasis on all the elements of orthomolecular medicine. I had thought these meetings would be held in North America but apart from the “Nutritional Medicine Today” conferences in Canada none have been as broadly based as the Brazilian one.

The meetings in Europe (in Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark) which I have not attended have been as interesting and informative. It is clear that the world is no longer depending upon Canada and the United States for its inspiration but is developing this widespread international movement on its own. There are probably more than 6,000 physicians worldwide practicing orthomolecular medicine. A large proportion of these doctors were present at the Brazil meeting.

–A. Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., FRCP (C)

ISOMNews

Health Trends 2000, Denmark

The first Conference sponsored by the Danish Society of Orthomolecular Medicine took place August 15-17 this summer in Copenhagen. Its great success was due to the vision and very hard work of Claus Hancke, M.D., Conference Chairman, and his associates in the Danish Society. The impressive gathering of speakers from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands gave Health Trends 2000 a real European flavour, while the familiar presenters from the USA honored North Amerca as the pioneering place of orthomolecular medicine.

The 220 delegates were treated to excellent lectures from Americans Derrick Lonsdale, Samuel Epstein, Karl Folkers, Alexander Schauss, Majid Ali, Ralph Moss, Michael Janson, James Landauer and Garry Gordon around the theme “New Approaches to Longevity.” These were complemented by the European group, Uffe Ravnskov (Sweden), Jørgen Clausen (Denmark), Thomas Rau (Switzerland), Vincent Castronovo (Belgium), Peter van der Schaar (Holland), Jukka Salonen (Finland), and Frank Liebke (Germany). The ISOM was represented along with ten other exhibits from leading international natural pharmaceutical companies.

The Conference’s proximity to the center of beautiful Copenhagen made the worthwhile meeting even better. We thoroughly enjoyed these superb lectures on the latest health trends in orthomolecular medicine as well as the gracious hospitality of the people of Denmark, and we look forward to another successful Danish Conference in 1998.

–Steven Carter Managing Editor