Med Hypotheses. 2003 Sep; 61(3): 340-5.

Understanding the transition from alternative medicine to mainstream science: the homocysteine theory of heart disease and the crucial role of effective mentoring.

Podell RN.

UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dale Drive Short Hills, New Jersey 07078, USA. podell2@comcast.net

A deficiency of effective 'mentoring' may contribute to the relatively low quality of alternative medicine research and to the medical/scientific community's reluctance to consider even its most promising theories. This hypothesis derives from a case-study of the homocysteine theory of heart disease (HTSD), one of only a few recent theories to have made the transition from 'alternative' to 'mainstream'.